Children’s Advocacy Center Reaches Milestone

Press release from The Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeastern Indiana

(left to right) U.S. Rep. Luke Messer; Sarah Brichto, Executive Director, Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeastern Indiana; Stephanie Black, Forensic Interviewer, Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeastern Indiana; Aaron Negangard, Dearborn/Ohio County Prosecutor and Board President, Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeastern Indiana; Tom Baxter, Detective, Indiana State Police and Board Vice-president, Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeastern Indiana.

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(Dillsboro, Ind.) - The Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeastern Indiana (formerly Region 15 Children’s Advocacy Center) held a Milestone Celebration Open House on July 15th to honor the first 1,200 children interviewed in their Center. Just over 400 of these interviews have been children from Dearborn and Ohio Counties. Special Guest Representative Luke Messer of Indiana’s Sixth District was present to get a firsthand look at the Center, a child-friendly nonprofit corporation created to minimize the trauma suffered by victims of child abuse.

 The Children’s Advocacy Center is designed to use a multidisciplinary team approach which facilitates the prevention, detection, investigation and treatment of child abuse. Their primary service is child-friendly forensic interviews, a fact-finding interview that is used to assess whether or not abuse has occurred.

“I congratulate the Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeastern Indiana for their continued leadership in developing safer communities for all Hoosier children,” said Luke Messer, Representative of Indiana’s Sixth District.  “For nearly a decade, my mother served as a court appointed special advocate for children in abuse cases, and I appreciate how important the child’s perspective is to a positive court outcome.”

Children/teenagers come to the Children’s Advocacy Center because there has been a report that the child may have experienced some form of abuse or may have witnessed violence either at home or in some other circumstance. The job of the forensic interviewer is to allow the child to tell about that event in a way that appears to be a one-on-one discussion, not an interrogation, completely non-threatening and in language not suggested to the child by the interviewer. The child is given the opportunity to describe an event in his or her own words, in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate to the child.

“Prior to the Center opening in September of 2009, children often had to tell what happened again and again to different people - the school personnel, detectives, child protective services, psychologists and more - often in locations where a child might feel vulnerable,” said Sarah Brichto, Executive Director of the Children’s Advocacy Center. “Now when a child has a terrible truth to tell, there's a safe and supportive place to talk one on one with a trained individual in a single interview.”

“In particular, I want to recognize the leadership of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeastern Indiana. Executive Director Sarah Brichto and Forensic Interviewer Stephanie Back, both founding members of the Center, provide daily leadership of the program’s goals,” Representative Messer added.

“I also want to send a special recognition for the vision of the Center to the Board to Directors President, Aaron Negangard and fellow board members Tom Baxter, Chad Lewis, Monica Hensley, Richard Hertel, Cynthia Wagner, and Barbara Bowling.  Their influential contribution to our local communities is truly inspirational.”

The Children’s Advocacy Center of Southeast Indiana serves the families of Dearborn, Decatur, Jefferson, Jennings, Ohio, Ripley, and Switzerland Counties. In addition to the forensic interview, the Center also makes medical examination and mental health counseling referrals. For more information about the Children’s Advocacy Center and available resources, log on to Center’s website at www.region15cac.org or visit their Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/region15cac.