Center brings hope to victims of child abuse

by Courtney Ortega, co-feature editor

Terrified, alone, used, and damaged.

These are just some of the words used by victims of child abuse to describe the pain that they suffer.

A rising epidemic, it was reported in the 2006 National Child Abuse Statistics that more than four children die from some type of abuse or neglect in the United States, totaling an astounding 1,000 to 2,000 deaths per year.

Yet as much of a crisis as child abuse is nationally, the numbers are striking when broken down to the West Texas region. Exceeding the state average of 8.2 victims per 1,000 children in 2004, Lubbock was ranked first per capita in the state of Texas in terms of confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect, according to the Department of Family Protective Services.

Recently, this region, consisting of 44 counties, from Amarillo to Lubbock County, was also ranked first per 1,000 children for confirmed cases of child abuse. With such a staggering trend, this is something that both Carmen Aguirre and the Children’s Advocacy Center of the South Plains are highly aware of.

“It’s definitely a problem,” says Aguirre. “It would be nice if we could work ourselves out of having our jobs. But I do not see that happening anytime soon.”

The Children’s Advocacy Center of the South Plains, located at 720 Texas Avenue in Lubbock, is a non-profit organization with a goal of providing a non-threatening and encouraging environment for victims of child abuse. Serving eight rural counties, the organizations mission is to “bring together community resources to speed the healing of child victims of abuse and trauma.”

Aguirre, who is executive director for the center, oversees the staff of seven, consisting of counselors, Children’s Protective Service (CPS) specialists, and forensic interviewers. The center is one of the busiest of the Children’s Advocacy Centers in the nation. Serving 835 first-time clients in 2007, with several repeat clients as well, they saw more than 900 victims last year. Since their establishment, the center has serviced more than 7,000 children. Coming through a referral from the CPS, the abuse cases vary from emotional and physical to sexual.

They also vary by the demographics the victims come from. As Aguirre is quick to point out, child abuse does not discriminate by race or by social economic class. Everyone and anyone is a prospective victim, as the backgrounds of the victims are all quite diverse.

“Child abuse does not discriminate,” says Aguirre. “You will see it in every zip code.”

The center, in addition to providing a secure place of comfort, offers many other services to victims and their non-offending family members. These services include child abuse awareness programs for children and adults, as well as counseling and therapy sessions for the victim and his or her family.

The most important and effective of these is the center’s department of counseling and therapy, which is overseen by Felicia Powell, director of clinical services at Children’s Advocacy Center. With several therapists working with her, Powell and her co-workers counsel the abuse victims and their families, as well as offer parent support groups. The counseling, as Powell points out, varies case to case.

“It varies from child to child, because the need varies,” says Powell. “Each child is unique unto themselves.”

Some children, she says, adjust quickly, requiring only six-to-eight sessions, while others might require up to 25 sessions. This is ultimately greatly dependent on the extensiveness of the abuse. Yet, when a patient or his or her family, feels the counseling he or she has had is sufficient, Powell says, most individuals will openly tell them that they are through.

“Usually, they will be ones that will approach you when they are done,” says Powell. “And sometimes there are those families that are a little unsure.”

Other than helping those who have been victims of child abuse, the center looks to help prevent future cases through the use of their Yellow Dyno program. Created in 1987 by Jan Wagner, the Yello Dyno program, an anti-victimization program, has reached out to the schools of the Lubbock Independent School District, as well as several private schools and summer camps. No longer focused on the concept of “stranger danger,” Yello Dyno teaches children to be aware of “tricky people.”

“Tricky people” are described as being anyone, a stranger, family member, or friend, who hurts them or makes them feel uncomfortable. This is in response to the overwhelming number of victims who suffer their abuse at the hands of a family member or friend. As Aguirre says, the most recent statistics showed in 2006 that of the 437 named perpetrators whose cases came through their facility, only four of them were unknown or a stranger to the child victimized.

 “Statistics indicate that more times than not, whoever has sexually or physically abused the child is someone who lives inside the home or is close enough to the family to gain trust from the child,” Aguirre says.

A major success in Lubbock, as well as the surrounding communities, from fall 2006 to summer 2007, Yello Dyno saw 1,600 children from the area go through its program. Recently, the center began a program to educate parents on the issue of child abuse in a new workshop called Darkness to Light. The workshop aims to teach parents how to prevent child abuse, as well as how to detect the warning signs of an abused child. They have even taken their presentation to local college campuses, grade school personnel, and medical students, bringing an overall awareness to the community.

“I don’t necessarily see it as an epidemic, for why Lubbock has such a high number of cases,” says Terri Sanchez, forensic interviewer at the center. “I see it as a cause of people in this area becoming more aware of the problem through the programs we offer.”

While the non-profit organization does not receive funding from the county or state, they are mandated by Texas Family Code. Their primary funding comes from grants, which come from everywhere from the Office of the Governor to the Office of the Attorney General. As a United Way partner agency, the organization also receives a portion of funding from the United Way.

However, much of their income is derived through the generosity of the community through donations and fundraisers. Many of the local college’s Greek systems, such as the Kappa Deltas of Texas Tech University, have played a major part in collecting money through fundraisers they have held to support the center. Texas Tech University’s School of Marketing has even gotten in on the action, as they recently held a competition between two competing teams of marketing students to see which team could strategically raise the most money for the center.

The center encourages anyone interested in helping with their cause to do so, reminding the community that while money donations are nice, they appreciate all forms of help. They frequently ask for donations of books, teddy bears, and quilts, which the center gives to every child that comes through as a token of security and comfort to signal the beginning of the healing process. As the only Children’s Advocacy Center with a mobile trailer to travel into smaller towns seeking help, they also ask for donations of gas cards or volunteers to help bring their programs, such the Yello Dyno and Darkness to Light, to other schools and organizations.

“We have such a great community, and their generosity plays such a big role in our success here at the center,” says Aguirre.

As the staff members of the Children’s Advocacy Center look forward to celebrating their 10^th anniversary this summer, they continue to work toward providing a safe haven for victims of abuse. Yet as they work to achieve this goal, they continue to hope that others who are suffering or have suffered the same pain will continue to come forward so that they may find healing.

“You are not alone,” says Powell. “There are far more people than you can imagine that are dealing with the same issues that they are dealing with, and this is a place where they can begin the rest of their lives.”

The hardest part for the victims, the staff agrees, is coming to terms with the realization that they have been abused. Once that burden has been lifted, the healing process can begin.

“I hope when a child comes to me, and for first the time are able to say that they were abused, that they are able to open up that first step of the healing process,” says Sanchez.

So as they continue to fight the war on child abuse, Children’s Advocacy Center of the South Plains continues to look for the promise of the future, a future of bringing many more victims of child abuse from the darkness of their pain into the promise of light.

If you would like to learn more about the Children’s Advocacy of the South Plains or make a donation, visit their website at www.safeplace4kids.org, or contact Carmen Aguirre at (806)740-0251 ext. 101 or by email her at caguirre@safeplace4kids.org.

 

All photos by Brenda Cuellar/Plainsman Press