Child Sex Abuse Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Senate Recognizes Child Advocacy Day

Monday was Child Advocacy Day at the Capitol, bringing together child welfare advocates to provide resources and educate the public.

The Senate passed a resolution making Monday Child Advocacy Day at the legislature. Special guests from the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network, or WVCAN, were set up outside the Senate chambers to spread their message.

Kate Flack is the CEO of WVCAN. She said the group was at the Capitol to celebrate the work of local child advocacy centers and their multidisciplinary teams in the past year and to urge the lawmakers to continue to support services to child survivors of abuse.

“Every year, we want to make sure that kids are as safe as possible so that we have laws that keep them safe, that makes sure that those who perpetrate child abuse are held accountable,” Flack said. “We also make sure that the folks who are doing the hard work of supporting children and their healing journey are supported financially, that CPS has support, that law enforcement has support, that prosecuting attorneys have support and that kids have access to mental health services and medical services.”

According to Flack, in the last year 4,879 new children were served by WVCAN’s 21 child advocacy centers.

“A child advocacy center is a child-friendly facility where treatment professionals and investigative professionals work together to hold offenders accountable and help kids heal,” Flack said. “So that includes law enforcement, CPS prosecuting attorneys, mental health providers, medical providers, our forensic interviewers and family advocates at the child advocacy centers. We meet monthly with each of those multidisciplinary investigative teams to coordinate on case outcomes to make sure that kids can heal and offenders are held accountable.”

WVCAN serves 46 of West Virginia’s 55 counties.

“We’re really proud of the work that’s being done, more than 10 percent increase in kids served in the last five years,” Flack said. “We know the services are no less needed now than they were before.”

Flack said WVCAN is expanding its mental health services through support from the Highmark Foundation.

“We’re looking to expand those services even further because we know that kids who have trauma histories do so much better when they get the type of support and medical and mental health support that they need,” Flack said.

A recent study of WVCAN’s services found that West Virginia children are 4.7 times more likely to encounter drug endangerment than the national average.

“Child advocacy centers really helped communities thrive, they are restoring the fabric of our society,” Flack said. “One in 10 kids will be sexually abused by their 18th birthday. So this is not a small problem. We need all hands on deck to support these children. And so we are hopeful that the legislature will continue to do so.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

W.Va. Children 5 Times More At Risk Of Drug Endangerment

The West Virginia Child Advocacy Group, or WVCAN, saw a nearly 10 percent increase in children served in the past five years.

The West Virginia Child Advocacy Group (WVCAN) saw a nearly 10 percent increase in new children served in the past five years according to a new report released on Thursday.

WVCAN operates 21 Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) which provide official service to 46 of 55 counties in the state.

Each CAC provides a safe, child-friendly facility where child protection, criminal justice and child treatment professionals work together to investigate abuse, hold offenders accountable and help children heal.

Kate Flack is the CEO of WVCAN. She said awareness of the program could account for the increase in new children served.

“Every time that we help build awareness, more children are disclosing to mandated reporters, more children’s cases are being investigated by CPS and law enforcement, and CPS and law enforcement make referrals to child advocacy centers,” Flack said. “So the children can come to a safe child-friendly facility to do a forensic interview with a trained forensic interviewer, who asks questions in a non-leading developmentally appropriate way.”

According to the report, children from 0 to six years old make up 25 percent of new children served at a CAC. Children ages seven to 12 account for 43 percent of new children served at a CAC. Finally, children ages 13 to 18 years old account for 32 percent of new children served at a CAC.

Flack said the majority of West Virginia offenders are over the age of 18.

“It represents the vulnerability that our children face,” Flack said. “That 96 percent of our alleged offenders were someone that child knew. So a lot of times when people think about child sexual abuse or physical abuse, they imagine stranger danger. And while there are, you know, cases of that, for sure, the majority, the vast majority of abuse that kids face, are people who are in positions of trust.”

The report shows 14 percent of the West Virginian children served were at a CAC because of allegations of drug endangerment. That is 4.7 times higher than the national average.

“Knowing that with poly-victimization, with the risks that kids face, if they are drug endangered, not only for neglect, you know, so not receiving adequate supervision, but it increases the risk of other types of abuse,” Flack said.

Flack said she is committed to her work and hopeful for state and federal investment into the program.

“The CDC lifetime costs to society for each victim of abuse is $210,000,” Flack said. “And so I mean, if the average cost for services for each of these children from the CAC is between $1,000 and $2,000 per kid, and so really, I mean, a little, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound, or an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

W.Va. Lawmakers Addressing Child Sex Abuse

Some West Virginia lawmakers say they’ll introduce legislation intended to better protect children from sex abuse following a task force report indicating one in 10 are victims before they turn 18.

The group’s recommendations include training all public school personnel to recognize and respond to suspected abuse and clarifying the state’s mandatory reporting laws.

Others are strengthening screening for child-service professionals, coordinating various resources and strengthening schools’ capacity to provide prevention education in grades K-12.

House Education Committee Chairman Paul Espinosa and Senate Education Committee Chairman Kenny Mann say they’re working to draft related legislation and get it enacted this year.

They co-chair the task force established in 2015.