New child-advocacy center to open

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November 23, 2009

By ANDREA VanVALKENBURG The Press Republican Mon Nov 23, 2009, 05:17 PM EST

PLATTSBURGH — For young victims of sexual abuse, the violence has a lasting and often traumatic impact — and so can the process of reporting the crime.

That’s why for more than two years, officials with the Clinton County District Attorney’s Office, local law-enforcement and service agencies have been working to open the area’s first Child Advocacy Center.

The planning and operation of the Clinton County Child Advocacy Center’s Community Team Responding and Advocating for Kids Program have been designed with one goal in mind.

“We’re decreasing trauma on victims of sexual assault,” Executive Director Richelle Beach said while giving a tour of the new Plattsburgh center.

RENOVATED BY GRANT

The effort is being funded by about $200,000 worth of federal and state grants, which were secured by newly elected Essex County District Attorney Kristy Sprague when she was chief assistant district attorney in Clinton County.

A portion of the funding went toward renovating the agency’s building at 46 Arizona Ave., where a former commercial warehouse has been transformed into a brightly colored, toy-filled center with interview rooms and offices.

“It’s been a very long process, but it’s all coming together,” Beach said as she surveyed final touches being put on the center, which is now expected to open Dec. 2.

ONE INTERVIEW

Not only will the center help ease trauma on victims, she said, it will also provide counseling services and enhance law-enforcement collaboration to help build stronger cases against abusers.

In years past, victims were subjected to numerous interviews with police and service providers in intimidating police stations and barren offices.

The new child-friendly center is aimed at eliminating that while enhancing the role of police, prosecutors and advocates.

“The collaborative effort between the agencies — and by creating consistencies in protocols and understanding between the agencies — will benefit the investigations,” Beach said.

Future victims will now only have to undergo a single interview, which can be monitored by professionals through two-way windows and a closed-circuit camera connected to the District Attorney’s Office.

“The purpose of this center is for forensic interviewing,” Beach said.

STUDY RESULTS

Statistics, compiled for a 2006 study by the Medical University of South Carolina, show that communities with similar centers have 71.4-percent greater law-enforcement involvement rates than those that do not.

Those without advocacy centers typically see a 32.7-percent involvement in child-protective-related investigations.

The study also found that more abuse allegations were substantiated as a result, noting that the rate of substantiation was 46.7 percent in advocacy-center investigations compared to 12.7 percent in other communities.

Economically, a 2006 study by the National Children’s Advocacy Center showed that traditional investigations into alleged child abuse are substantially more expensive than those conducted at similar advocacy centers. Average costs for non-center investigations were almost $3,949 per case compared to $2,902 with those conducted by multi-disciplinary teams associated with a center.

New York state has 36 similar centers, but this will be the first in upstate.

OPEN HOUSE

District Attorney Andrew Wylie said officials will host an open house at the Child Advocacy Center from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2.

He said the center “helps us obviously in the sense that we have one central location where children will be interviewed by our office, the Department of Social Services and law enforcement.”

Wylie said it will “limit the exposure the child has to interviews so we don’t put the child through additional trauma of having to go through interview after interview.”

As locals gear up for the official opening, Beach said, they are now looking into adding medical and mental-health treatment next year and will continue seeking donations for the center and a victims advocate.

“It’s been nice to see this from the ground up,” Beach said. “And I think the whole process is going to be greatly improved.”

E-mail Andrea VanValkenburg at:

avanvalkenburg@pressrepublican.com