Chris Kirchner’sRemarks

ExecutiveDirector, Philadelphia Children’s Alliance

Children & Youth Committee Meeting

RE: Child Sexual Abuse and its effects on victims

December 5, 2011

Good morning membersof the Children and Youth Committee-- especially Chairman O’Brien, Vice Chairman Moul, Secretary Murt, Democratic Chair Bishop, Democratic Vice Chair Johnson, and Democratic Secretary Brownlee.

I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you today about the work of Child Advocacy Centers,also known as CAC’s,across the Commonwealth, especially the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance, the CAC where I am Executive Director.

Public Service Announcement-Mary-30 seconds

Children’s Advocacy Centers were founded to improve the way that child sexual abuse cases are investigated. Part of a national movement in the late 80s and early 90s, as public systems were being overwhelmed by reports of alleged sexual abuse, and on the heels of multi-victim cases such as the McMartin Day Care case in southern CA, a District Attorney in Huntsville AL realized how complicated these cases were. District Attorney,and subsequently Congressman for seven terms, Bud Cramer knew there was a problem when he tried to interview an 8 y.o. boy and the child asked him “Why don’t you grown ups talk to each other?”, after being interviewed by no fewer than 8 different professionals about his abuse. This was in 1985.

Fast forward to 2011. There is a National Children’s Allianceoffice in WashingtonD.C., and more than 500 accredited CACs across the country. We’ve come a long way in recognizing the serious problem of child sexual abuse, although we still have a long way to go. As a society we generally accept that child sexual abuse happens. We know it exists. But we still cannot believe that it is our neighbor, or our spouse, or our child’s coach, doing it.

In Philadelphia in the early 90s, we also recognized that the dynamics of child sexual abuse were complicated. It is usually the child’s word against the alleged offender’s word. Very few cases have medical evidence. And very cases few have witnesses.

Children often feel they are to blame for the abuse and that they will get in trouble if anyone finds out about it. The subject matter is one that investigators aren’t always comfortable talking about. Younger children don’t always know to be embarrassed but older kids are extremely embarrassed about the subject. Ninety percent of the time the alleged perpetrator is someone the child knows andis someone in a position of power over the child such as a babysitter, coach, or family member.Perpetrators not only manipulate the child, they also manipulate adults who could have protected the child.

These dynamics of child sexual abuse, combined with the volume of sexual abuse allegations in Philadelphia, which were an average of 130 reports per month in 2010, and were as high as 160/month in late 90s, led us to the development of our CAC, the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance.

Also, the number of professionals who have to intervene when there is an allegation of abuse, including child welfare, police, prosecution, medical and mental health professionals, make it quite likely that investigative agencies will trip over each other and make the process more difficult for children and their non-offending caregivers. We know that children have reliable memories, but when questioned multiple times, by various interviewers, in different settings, they may get confused and provide different information..

Although I’m here as Executive Director of the CAC in Philadelphia, I’d like to bring your attention to the handout that shows which PA counties have a developing or accredited CAC.Thereare currently 13 accredited centers and 15associate and developing centers in our state. From January 1-June 30 of 2011, almost 4,000 Pennsylvaniachildren were served by the CAC’s on this map.We have a State Chapter of CACs and MDTs, the Chapter brings CACs and developing programs together for regular meetings, conferences, peer review for interviewers, and discussion about the most pressing issues facing our programs.

I am happy to report that at all of these CAC’s across the Commonwealth, we have created a coordinated response to child sexual abuse allegations, and many of the CACs also serve children who were physically abused, as well as children who witness violence.

In Philadelphiaour response includes a coordinated process with child welfare social workers, the Police Dept’s Special Victims Unit, Office of the District Attorney, and medical and mental health providers.

When a report of alleged sexual abuse is made to the Department of Human Services, our child welfare agency,or the Police, children are brought to the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance. We have a welcoming and child-focused facility with bright colors, age appropriate toys and child-sized furniture. Investigative, or forensic,interviews are conducted by specially trained experts on our staff, with a team process that includes child welfare social workers and police officers observing via closed circuit TV. This process reduces the number of times children have to be interviewed. The interviews are videotaped and shared with law enforcement andprosecution. Victim advocates at the Children’s Alliance work with the professional team and families to ensure timely access to medical and mental health services for the families. They also offer crisis counseling and court accompaniment to children and non-offending caregivers.

We see, on average, 70 to 90 children per month.I checked, and last week we saw 24 children, 18 were a joint police/DHS investigation, 6 were police only (alleged perpetrator (AP) didn’t meet DHS criteria.) Children ranged in age from 2.5 to 14. APs included several fathers, one mother, two mother’s boyfriends, one uncle and one cousin. Two of the cases included a Dept Public Welfare investigator, and in one case the abuse happened in two counties so police/child welfare teams from both counties were present for the interview.

In all of these cases, I could not help but think that the “old” process, of many interviews in various settings, by individuals with varying skill level in talking to children, would have been terrible for the child and the investigation. Our child-friendly facility ensures that children are not interviewed at their home, perhaps on the sofa where they were abused, perhaps with the alleged offender in the next room. Our coordinated process ensures that DHS social workers have information from the police about prior records of APs, and police know if the family has a prior history with DHS. DHS social workers and police officers review the details with our forensic interviewer, and the team discusses the allegations before, during and after the interview. Our interviewers are specially trained to assess the child’s developmental level at the beginning of the interview, so they are not asking questions the child does not understand. Our interviewers know that the difference between “on” and “in” is the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony. They know that it is important to gather contextual detail from the child, in a non-leading manner. They are trained to question children with special needs, including children on the autistic spectrum, deaf children, and children with various delays and psychiatric issues.

Since we videotape all interviews, our process is transparent, and recordings are used by the team to review the child’s statements, by our interviewers to write reports with recommendations, and by DHS and Prosecutors if the case is appealed with DHS or criminally prosecuted.

Our advocates make sure non-offending caregivers are supported and know what to expect from the investigation. Research tells us their response to the child’s abuse is the most important factor in the child’s healing process.

I’d like to bring your attention to our national accrediting standards, which are listed on one of the handouts. You will see that CAC’s are much more than an interview center. A CAC is really a comprehensive response, a response that is documented in protocols and policies developed and shared by all responding agencies. These protocols define how responses will be handled, from minimal facts interviews in the field, to criteria for referral for medical exams, from credentials of interviewers, medial and mental health professionals, to a mechanism for case tracking via a specialized database, which ensures no child “falls through the cracks.” Programs that are accredited, have met all ten standards.

Although we’ve come a long way in dealing with child sexual abuse cases, we face many challenges:

  • CAC’s aren’t available to every child in PA. If you look at the map I handed out, you will see where we have accredited CACs, developing programs, and counties with no CAC coverage at all. Our goal is to ensure that every child in PA has access to a CAC.
  • Team work among all agencies, which is the essence of a successful approach to a child abuse investigation, is not always easy. Turf issues, differing mandates, personalities, and lack of training can impede collaboration.
  • Program Resources to enable a community to meet all ten national standards vary from county to county. For example, medical services are readily available in urban centers, while rural centers sometimes struggle to find specialists to examine children. Case volume in urban centers can pose challenges, while smaller communities may not have resources for a specialized interviewer and thus have to train C & Y or police to be designated interview specialists. Specialized mental health services for sexually abused children are not readily available in many counties, we definitely need more resources across the state that are dedicated to mental health treatment for sexually abused children.
  • All CACs struggle to raise money to support their work. Currently programs are funded by the private sector via support from individuals, corporations and foundations. Support from the public sector varies from county to county. In Philadelphia we are very grateful for support from the City via a contract with DHS. We hope that in the future we’ll have an opportunity to get support from the Commonwealth. Other states, including NY and WV, have supported CAC’s with line items in their state budget or through a fee on civilcourt filings. We had proposed legislation that covered two legislative sessions, to fund CACs via a filing fee on civil court filings, but this was not successful. Although these are trying economic and budgetary times, we hope that this renewed attention to the problem of child sexual abuse results in increased support for our work, including funding from the state.

The PennStatecase has provided an opportunity to focus on this issue, not only in PA, but across the country. We need to examine the entire continuum of child abuse response, from prevention, intervention and treatment. As we are doing today, we need to look at our laws, including reporting and statute of limitations laws. We must include victims as well as professionals who work in this area, and the entire community, in defining the problems and finding solutions.

The potential negative consequences, both physical and emotional, of childhood sexual abuse, are too severe to ignore.We know this from hundreds of studies over the past three decades, as well as stories from adult survivors, of the impact on their lives. Many of our donors support us because of their personal experiences, and they tell us of abuse they endured in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, long before we had mandated reporting laws.

We cannot miss this opportunity to examine the impact of child sexual abuse on our state’s children, and to take all necessary steps to protect them in the future.

Children’s Advocacy Centers across the state would like to be included in these discussions, and we’ll continue to do our part to ensure that when a child comes forward to disclose abuse, the community’s response is a child-focused, collaborative process conducted in a supportive environment with highly trained professionals.

It is easy to feel powerless and overwhelmed when faced with the scope of this issue.

It is harder to turn our anger and frustration into positive action on behalf of children.

We have a pledge up on our website that we hope people consider taking.

It reads that if yousee, hear, suspect, or in any way become aware that a child is being abused, you will not keep silent. You will have the courage to help that child break free of the silence, secrecy, and shame that should never define a child’s life.

Please consider visiting our website to find out more:

Thank you.