IMPORTANT NOTE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR MAY 12th!
Research shows that 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday.
Nearly 70% of all reported sexual assaults (including assaults on adults) occur to children ages 17 and under.
44% of rapes with penetration occur to children under age 18. About 90% of children who are victims of sexual abuse know their abuser.
April is National Child Abuse Awareness & Prevention Month. The Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center (BRACAC) is a private, non-profit 501c3 agency designed to provide highly specialized, trauma-informed services to victims of child sexual abuse, exploitation and human trafficking. The Center’s mission is to reduce trauma for child abuse victims by providing a safe, child-friendly location where teams of professionals work together to pursue justice and provide treatment. Services are provided on a first come, first serve basis, at no expense to a child’s family. The Center provided services for 632 children last year alone.
Accredited by the National Children’s Alliance, BRACAC has provided victim advocacy and support, forensic interviews, comprehensive child sexual abuse medical examinations and coordination of mental health services to thousands of children since opening its doors in January 2001. The Center is centrally located in Bowling Green/Warren County but responds and provides services to children and families living in Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Metcalfe, Monroe, Simpson and Warren counties.
So what exactly does the Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center do for children?
Child-Friendly Facility: The Center is designed specifically to make children feel safe and comfortable when they are meeting with investigators and other members of the Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT). Offenders – alleged or otherwise – are not allowed on the premises. Professionals come together, so that children can tell their story once.
Forensic Interviews: The BRACAC is equipped with three interview rooms that are designed to make children feel comfortable to talk about what has happened to them. The Center’s Forensic Interviewers are Master-level professionals who receive extensive and ongoing, specialized training. They work closely with investigative professionals to conduct interviews at each child’s developmental ability and to minimize multiple interviews and additional trauma. Interviews may also be provided for children who have experienced severe physical abuse and/or been a witness to abuse or other violence.
Medical Services: Physicians with specialized training and experience in pediatric medicine and the diagnosis and treatment of child sexual abuse conduct child-sensitive, noninvasive medical examinations to ensure a child is healthy and without injury and to avoid unnecessary and repeat examinations. The examination also collects and documents forensic evidence, if present.
Mental Health Services: Connecting children and their non-offending caregivers with quality mental health services is critical to a child’s ability to heal after victimization. All BRACAC therapists providing services at the Center are trained and experienced in the assessment and treatment of child sexual abuse and exploitation trauma. Referrals for additional assessment and/or treatment off site, when needed, are coordinated with mental health professionals and agencies who uphold the same trauma informed standard of care.
Victim Advocacy & Support: The BRACAC’s Crisis Intervention Counselors (CICs) coordinate and provide services and support to children and families at the Center and until the child’s case is resolved by the assigned MDT, prosecution efforts or both. CICs help connect children and families with other resources in the community and provide information and assistance with Victim Compensation benefits, court preparation, support and more.
Community Awareness & Prevention: The BRACAC is equipped with two large meeting rooms to support the ongoing training and professional development of its staff and MDT partner professionals on the response, investigation, treatment and prosecution of child sexual abuse and exploitation. In addition, the BRACAC provides various public trainings such as The Darkness to Light Stewards of Children prevention training to help raise awareness and prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. These trainings include, but are not limited to, individuals, civic organization, schools, churches, daycares, after school programs, and sports programs.
BRACAC is hosting a training on April 25 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. where parents can learn more about protecting their children from on-line predators.
Funded in part by the Cabinet for Health & Family Services and a federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant (administered through the Kentucky Justice Cabinet), the Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center strives to meet the heavy demand for services to best meet the needs of sexually abused children. A grant from the WHAS Crusade for Children helps support providing specialized forensic interview services, and a grant through the Child Victims’ Trust Fund (administered through the Office of Kentucky’s Attorney General) helps make specialized medical exams available to child victims. Contributions made by donors, businesses and participants in the Center’s Annual Great Teddy Bear Run event in April provide funding for expenses not covered by state and grant funds.
The Center serves as the foundation of the response and provision of critical services to children and their non-offending family/caregivers. We cannot control what has happened to a child before they arrive at the Center for services, but the way in which Center staff and all the professionals of the assigned Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) respond and work together can greatly impact a child’s feeling of safety and comfort. By working together, we can individually and collectively minimize any additional trauma a child experiences when entering “the system” for services and protection. We can help a child feel safe and begin to heal from what can be one of the most damaging forms of childhood trauma.
The impacts of childhood sexual abuse can truly be devastating; but research consistently shows the way in which a child is treated upon disclosure is one of the biggest indicators of how a child will recover from the trauma. The BRACAC strives to positively impact that response and be an effective resource for children living in the BRADD region.
For more information about the BRACAC’s mission and services to children in your community, visitor call 270-783-4357.
Source: Darkness to Light: https://www.d2l.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/all_statistics_20150619.pdf
