April is both Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month, and on Monday, community and local government leaders came together to share how they collaborate on prevention efforts and to ensure survivors get the help they need.
‘The goal… is not only to raise public awareness about sexual violence and child abuse, but it’s to talk more and educate our community about how to prevent it,’ Dawn McKee, special projects coordinator for Centre Safe, said during a forum at the Ramada Hotel and Conference Center in State College. ‘We know that here in Centre County, sexual assault and child abuse are serious and very widespread problems, but they are preventable.’
In addition to Centre Safe, representatives of the YMCA of Centre County, Youth Service Bureau, Centre County Children and Youth Services, Children’s Advocacy Center and Centre County District Attorney’s Office discussed how they provide services and work together.
An estimated one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually assaulted before the age of 18 and every year more than 3.6 million referrals are made to child protective agencies in the United States.
In Centre County, the Children’s Advocacy Center sees about 300 children a year for sexual and physical abuse. Meanwhile Children and Youth Services investigated 288 cases of suspected child abuse and substantiated 39 last year. And Centre Safe saw close to 500 victims — women, children and men — of sexual assault or abuse in 2018, about twice as many as five to 10 years ago, according to executive director Anne Ard.
‘One of the things we know about sexual abuse, whether it’s against children or adults, is that it is tremendously underreported,’ Ard said. ‘So we know the people we are seeing are really only the tip of the iceberg.’
But, Ard and other panelists said that greater awareness and understanding is leading more people to come forward.
‘Sometimes we think that greater numbers mean there are more victims or survivors, but I think what’s really happening is that when people begin to believe that they will be heard, that they will be believed, that somebody’s going to help, that’s when they start to come forward,’ Ard said.
McKee added that it’s not only the responsibility of nonprofit and government organizations to create safe environments and stop abuse from happening, but also everyone in the community by learning about the programs available in Centre County, modeling healthy relationships, believing survivors and helping them find resources.
One of the collaborative resources available locally is the Darkness to Light Stewards of Children training, which is coordinated by Jamie SanFilippo, director of community outreach for Centre County YMCA. The evidence-based, two-hour training for preventing, recognizing and reacting to child sexual abuse has been provided to more than 7,400 adults in Centre County.
The program is offered for free around the county. A list of scheduled trainings is available on the YMCA website or trainings can be scheduled for organizations by calling SanFilippo at 814-237-7717.
‘Preventing child sexual abuse starts in the home,’ SanFilippo said. ‘It also takes a community effort from organizations like you see here today. I think we all do a really great job of educating the community and providing these prevention services to the community for free.’
Stewards of Children has been in place in Centre County for seven years, and Ard said that it and other training programs are making an impact, but that the work must always be ongoing.
‘For us to have trained over 7,000 people is extraordinary,’ Ard said. ‘That means we have hit the tipping point and are moving further, but it’s not something we can stop doing. We don’t finish, because our community doesn’t stay static. We always have to be paying attention to the work of prevention.’
Youth Service Bureau is a partner in the Stewards of Children program and hosts the training at its offices every other month. It’s one of a number of ways that YSB works to provide safe and healthy environments for all children.
Christine Bishop, CEO of YSB, said those efforts also include staffing after-school youth centers in Bellefonte and Snow Shoe, neighborhood outreach programs, case manager-supported mentoring opportunities in schools and communities and services for teens who are struggling and their families through the Burrowes Street Youth Haven in State College. YSB also offers support and resources for families of young children.
All of the efforts are part of the work to help children have someone they can trust and talk to and be in healthy environments.
‘The truth is it really does take a village to raise children well, and we’re proud to be part of that effort,’ Bishop said. ‘By things like collaborating on the Stewards of Children training we’re able to teach adults what it means to recognize child abuse and respond to that appropriately. The more we as adults are comfortable talking about these topics the less opportunity there is going to be in our community for these types of things to flourish, and that’s really what we’re striving for.’
Centre County Children and Youth Services also offers a free workshop on child abuse and mandated reporting. The next one will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on April 9 at State College Assembly of God, 2201 University Drive. Mary Ann Zimmerman, CYS agency liaison, said the workshop helps provide a better understanding of child abuse and neglect as well as the obligations of mandated reporters.
‘In Centre County we are very fortunate,’ Zimmerman said. ‘We have a lot of partners that work with us to keep kids safe, from the community organizations such as the YMCA, Centre Safe and the Youth Service Bureau. Our commissioners support us, our district attorney’s office, our law enforcement, even our churches. We have a lot of groups of people that work really well together and work very hard, and we have that village idea of keeping kids safe.’
When local children are abused, caregivers have had the Children’s Advocacy Center in Bellefonte to turn to for the past five years. Operated by Mount Nittany Health, all services at the center are offered free of charge.
‘The Children’s Advocacy Center is made up of a team of professionals, with the goal of making a child feel safe and comfortable while investigating a potential crime. The primary focus is on the well-being of the child,’ said Dr. Rachel Schwab, one of three Mount Nittany Physicians Group pediatricians who works with the center.
At the center, children are able to share their stories by talking with trained child forensic interviewers who ask ‘child-focused and child-appropriate questions,’ ensuring the child does not have to be interviewed numerous times during an investigation, Schwab said. Caregivers meet privately with a trained victim advocate, who helps them become comfortable with and understand the process. A pediatrician also will administer a forensic medical exam that is not painful for the child, usually with the caregiver present.
‘The Children’s Advocacy Center’s responsibility is to protect the most vulnerable members of our community and improve access to care for the victims and witnesses of abuse,’ Schwab said. ‘[It] gives children who have been victims of or have witnessed abuse, neglect or other crimes a safe place to tell their story. Every child given the opportunity to tell their story as part of an investigation will begin the journey to healing.’
The center also meets a previously underserved need in Centre County. Prior to its opening, children who were abused had to be taken to Harrisburg, Danville or Sunbury to receive a forensic exam and begin an investigation.
Formerly known as the Centre County Women’s Resource Center, Centre Safe provides an array of services and resources for women, men and children who have experienced sexual violence and domestic abuse. Ard, Centre Safe executive director, said one in 10 people will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes and sexual violence occurs across the lifespan for people of all gender identities and sexual orientations.
Centre Safe aims to provide them with the help and support they need, and Ard said that the collaborative work in Centre County helps both children and adults to receive a comprehensive response.
‘One of the things we can be proud of here is the collaborative effort we have to address these issues, both in terms of the services provided and in terms of the prevention work, because none of us can do this by ourselves. We need to be able to provide services that are holistic, services that are comprehensive,’ Ard said.
Whether it’s a child at the Children’s Advocacy Center, or an adult at Mount Nittany Medical Center, victims and survivors can expect a team of people — medical personnel, victim advocates, and law enforcement — who are focused on their healing and understand the trauma and how a victim might respond.
Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said that he sees abuse, neglect and sexual violence in the histories of both victims and defendants in cases across the legal system.
‘If we don’t deal with these issues in a comprehensive manner, if we don’t interdict and intervene as early as possible, we’re doomed to repeat history again and again and again,’ Cantorna said. ‘What I want survivors to know is there is a team of individuals and organizations who are ready to hear your stories and will listen in a respectful manner. They will make sure resources are brought to the victim so that they can begin the process of putting their lives together.’
State College police has an investigator whose job is dedicated to interviewing victims of sexual violence and trauma, as well as a victim/witness advocate who is available for any cases of assault, abuse or neglect, Cantorna said.
He urged anyone who has experienced abuse or knows of someone who has to tell someone and that county and nonprofit organizations are ready to treat them respectfully.
‘Even if that case never goes into the legal system, the victims and survivors cannot take the first steps if they don’t tell someone,’ Cantorna said. ‘We’re here, we’re ready to listen and we’re ready to act. But we can’t do anything if you don’t come forward.’
SanFillipo added that preventing child sexual abuse is also preventing long-term consequences.
‘Long-term we are preventing drug abuse, alcoholism, incarceration, teen pregnancy, homelessness, all of these social issues we’re facing today,’ SanFilippo said. Ard added that research has shown adverse childhood experiences can alter a person’s life and lead to those consequences.
Both the Children’s Advocacy Center and the Stewards of Children training were direct results of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case. Ard said that the existing work and collaboration among numerous groups had Centre County uniquely positioned to respond immediately, and that collaboration has only strengthened over the years.
‘The collaborative we have, and I can tell you because I do a lot of work at the statewide level, is not mirrored anywhere else in the commonwealth,’ Ard said. ‘This level of collaboration means if the tragedy occurs, if you are a parent of a child who has experienced violence, if you have experienced sexual violence, the best place you can be is Centre County, because the best response you can get is here.’
Centre County Board of Commissioners Chair Michael Pipe echoed Ard’s remarks, saying the county is ‘at the forefront’ in its work to reduce sexual violence and child abuse. Pipe and fellow commissioners Steve Dershem and Mark Higgins presented proclamations declaring both Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month in Centre County.
‘We have government and we have the private sector, whether it’s Centre Safe or the YMCA, the Youth Service Bureau, the list goes on… all of the folks here are doing the same thing which is protecting our children,’ Dershem said. ‘Whether it’s one of the agencies of county government which we’re very proud of or one of those not-for-profits, we are just very blessed.’
‘These problems are not going to solve themselves,’ Higgins added. ‘It takes a lot of effort across the spectrum here in Centre County.’
At Penn State several events and speakers are planned to honor survivors and raise awareness during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. See a full list here.
