EDITOR’S NOTE: In honor of the Tuscola County Child Advocacy Center’s efforts to help children who are victims of sexual or other physical abuse, The Advertiser plans to run a series of stories throughout the month detailing ways to help support the Child Advocacy Center, as well as ways to detect the warning signs of child abuse.
By Bill Petzold
Editor
TUSCOLA COUNTY — Child sexual abuse statistics here are much in line with horrifying national statistics: 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused in some way before the age of 18.
Since the Child Advocacy Center of Tuscola County opened nearly two years ago to the day in downtown Caro, the center has helped to protect children who have allegedly been sexually or severely physically abused.
How many? From mid-April 2013 through the end of the calendar year, 135 children were referred to the center for interviews. In 2014, 223 children were interviewed by the center and already in 2015, 62 children have been interviewed, with three more referrals set for next week.
Although the Child Advocacy Center (CAC) works with numerous government departments, the CAC itself is a non-profit, non-governmental agency. That means that the center is supported 100 percent by donors and grants.
The center hopes to branch out in terms of educating the public, especially school children, about how social media is used to target victims of abuse. The center has a powerful ally in that regard in Michigan State Police Caro Post Community Service Trooper Mark Swales. Trooper Swales has spoken about the dangers of “sexting” at Tuscola County high school basketball games and at school assemblies. CAC executive director Amber Spencer said she hopes to expand the educational outreach of the center.
“We are a non-profit; we survive solely on grants and donations and fundraising is a huge aspect of our sustainability. We really need more money to get these other programs going. We have a lot of ideas and a lot of motivated people. We have everything: The people, the resources that we need to do the programs and the able bodies — but we lack the money.”
LEAD Tuscola will help raise funds for the CAC this year with a Cheers & Beers fundraiser planned for 7 p.m. May 7 at the Frankenmuth Brewery, 425 S. Main St. Tickets are $25, with all proceeds benefitting the CAC. A silent auction is also planned.
The CAC brings a revolutionary approach to the forensic interviewing process to determine if a child has been a victim of abuse. The center prides itself on being a place of hope for children and families, a safe, friendly place where children can make difficult by truthful disclosures — just one time, in one place to one person.
The center employs a Multi-Disciplinary Team, a collaboration of professionals that respond to child abuse allegations. These individuals can effectively investigate, prosecute and treat child sexual abuse allegations. The team includes prosecutors, law enforcement, victim advocates, the forensic investigator from the CAC, as well as representatives from the Department of Human Services and Child Protective Services, medical examiners and mental health experts.
The child and family only meet with the forensic interviewer in a child-friendly waiting room and in an interview room where the interviews can be recorded for legal purposes. Meanwhile the MDT operates in an observation room where efforts can be coordinated to avoid duplicate interviews and observers can communicate with the interviewer through an earpiece.
The CAC was accredited through the National Children’s Alliance in January 2014, and the center’s interview strictly follows state and national forensic interview protocol. The goal is to obtain a statement from the child in a developmentally sensitive, unbiased and truth-seeking manner during a structured conversation designed to obtain as much reliable information as possible in a neutral fact-finding manner in one interview.
The interview empowers children to tell their stories by giving them clear information about the interviewer’s job and ground rules, by building rapport to establish a comfort level and by encouraging children to tell their stories in their own words.
Services are available at no cost to the children or their families.
“The biggest thing to get across is how important the center is — to help spread awareness of what it does and to explain the need, and explain that the center is completely supported by fundraising,” Tuscola County clerk Jodi Fetting said. Fetting is a member of the 2014-15 LEAD Tuscola class and is helping organize the Cheers and Beers fundraiser with fellow LEAD member Jamie Wark.
LEAD Tuscola is a 10-month program to introduce Tuscola County residents to programs and opportunities for local leadership. Individuals will have the opportunity to participate in a series of thought-provoking educational sessions, starting with a weekend retreat and continuing with one day sessions every month. These sessions are held at different locations in Tuscola County. Program organizers hope that following graduation, the participants will take the knowledge they have gained and use it to become more involved in the continuing growth of Tuscola County.
“But we’re hoping that as we educate the public more, it will reduce the number (of referrals),” Fetting said. “Hopefully we can break the cycle.”
“Learning the signs, stopping it before it gets too far, and knowing that you have a right to stop (the abuse) will help bring down those numbers eventually,” Spencer said.
A couple of fundraisers for the CAC also are planned for Friday, June 12. McDonald’s of Caro will host a second Family Fun Day, followed by the CAC’s second Superhero Run 5K at the Tuscola County Fairgrounds. Check back with the Tuscola County Advertiser for more information as the events approach.
For additional information on The Child Advocacy Center of Tuscola County and ways to help out, follow the group on Facebook, visit cac-tuscola.com or call (810) 610-8071.
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The Child Advocacy Center of Tuscola County presents
Child Abuse Warning Signs
Changes in personality include:
• Children may become unusually quiet or withdrawn
• Children may seem preoccupied or anxious
• Children may develop a hyperactive personality
• New fears may develop such as not wanting to be away from parents
• Children begin to regress in things such as potty training
Changes in behavior include:
• Physical aggression toward younger or weaker individuals
• A child knows too much about sex for his or her age
• Attempting to perform sexual acts on other children
• A child who begins to act out or become ornery
• Some children may run away from home
• Some children may harm themselves or become suicidal
• Some children may experiment with drugs or alcohol
Changes in school include:
• A delay in speech or physical growth
• Grades begin to decline
• Some children may begin skipping school
• Some children may begin to act out while at school