Child Advocacy Centers

We really need these centers in every city of every state.

— Joanna Stoane

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Center Would Benefit Abused Children: Possible Child Advocacy Center in Sedgwick County, Kansas to Investigate Child Abuse Reports.

The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.)

 Sep. 2—Although there is wide agreement that child advocacy centers are an ideal way to investigate child abuse reports, Sedgwick County, KA has none. That could be changing. A task force is working to establish such a center in Sedgwick County.

In the discussion of a recent Wichita, KA child abuse case — where investigators say two girls were starved and beaten over a 10-month period — child advocacy centers have been touted as a better way to investigate reported abuse or neglect.

When ideally designed, a child advocacy center puts all the main professionals needed to investigate reported abuse or neglect — law enforcement, social services and medical and mental health personnel — under one roof, operating around the clock. It enhances coordination among agencies, streamlines the process and makes it easier to determine whether allegations are false, said Ron Paschal, a Sedgwick County deputy district attorney who is taking a lead role to establish a center within the county.

District Attorney Nola Foulston, who chose Paschal to work on the task force, has been a vocal supporter of the advocacy center concept.

“At the present time, there are too many ways that a child may get lost in the system, or in the worst case, never found,” she said in an e-mail responding to questions from The Eagle.

Interview process is key

Most importantly, many say, a center reduces the amount of stress children encounter because it relies on focused interviews designed so a child has to tell his story to authorities only once.

Many of the children who come through centers can be victims of sexual abuse or extreme physical abuse. Interviewing them over and over adds to their trauma, officials say.

Sedgwick County District Judge Timothy Henderson, who hears child abuse cases, said this is why he supports a center.

“Think about what it might be to a 10-year-old child… the most emotional, draining, traumatic thing in their lives, and they’re having to tell it to one stranger after another,” Henderson said.

At an advocacy center, the interview room has only two people — an expertly trained interviewer and the child. The interviewer has a thorough knowledge of child development, so the approach is tailored to the age of the child.

Others watch the recorded interview from an observation room, out of the child’s sight. They provide advice and consult one another.

The interviewer and the others at the center not only determine what criminal action might be required, they also “cohesively plan” for the child based on the child’s specific needs, Foulston said.

Effectively helping children who suffer protects society in countless ways, Foulston said. Otherwise, she said, “children who are subjected to abuse and neglect in turn become adults who perpetrate the same crimes over and over again.”

No easy goal

Paschal, a veteran prosecutor who oversees child abuse cases, said the work to set up a center in Sedgwick County is “by far the most important thing I’ve ever worked on.”

But it’s no easy goal, officials say, because it forces agencies to set aside egos and turf battles.

Money is another main challenge. A Kansas law passed in 2004 allowed a $100 fee to be assessed against people convicted of crimes against children so the money could go to child advocacy centers. But in the first year after it became law, it generated only about $1,100, said Kathleen Inwood, president of the Kansas Chapter of Children’s Advocacy Centers.

Paschal said the law is raising little money in part because it is fairly new and prosecutors are still learning about it.

Also, the law gives judges discretion to waive the fee if it would cause a financial hardship on the person convicted. Many people convicted of such crimes are indigent, Paschal said.

State Rep. Brenda Landwehr, who is on the center task force with Paschal, said another state law — increasing the fine for violating the booster seat law — will eventually raise more money for advocacy centers.

Still, centers can’t rely too much on state money without losing their “neutrality,” Landwehr said.

Landwehr, a Wichita Republican, has at times been critical of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, saying it has tended to be too quick to recommend that children be removed from their homes. She is an active supporter of advocacy centers.

The task force also has included input from the district attorney’s office, SRS, law enforcement, the Exploited and Missing Children Unit, a medical component, mental health component and the Wichita, KA Children’s Home. Others who could become involved are the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center and Court Appointed Special Advocates, which looks after children’s interests in court hearings. But the list is in no way final, Paschal said.

The task force is still trying to determine the center’s precise needs, so it’s too early to estimate a cost, or say what all agencies would be involved or settle on a location or opening date, Paschal said.

Financing would include contributions from the agencies involved, state money and possibly grants and private money, he said.

Centers in Kansas

According to Inwood, Kansas has nine child advocacy centers — operating in Dodge City, Emporia, Hutchinson, Newton, Pittsburg, Salina, Scott City, Shawnee and Topeka. Others are under development.

Oklahoma has 21 centers; Missouri has 18. Both states provide significant money for their centers, said Nancy Chandler, executive director of the National Children’s Alliance, the centers’ membership and accrediting organization.

Nationwide, there are more than 600 advocacy centers. The first opened in 1985.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.