An old African proverb says that it takes a village to raise a child. That adage is probably even truer about healing a traumatized child.
Trauma can produce anything from distress to damage. It’s an injury to any part of the body, including the mind. Investigating, treating and preventing various traumas inflicted upon abused and neglected children, are the physical and psychological engines that run programs at Dorchester Children’s Center (DCC).
According to Executive Director Kay Phillips, among the most child-important of these programs are a child friendly atmosphere, forensic services, treatment for healing, follow-up with families, a foster care program, and of course, prevention.
Forensic means evidence. The whole program aids in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases by conducting the forensic interview for testimonial evidence. The forensic medical exam is for physical evidence and to insure the child’s physical well-being. There is also a comforting court preparation.
It was one of DCC’s first employees, Jennifer Bunch, supervisor of all forensic interviews, who used the village analogy for DCC’s multi-disciplinary team approach.
“I really believe in this Children’s Advocacy Center model we use here,” she said, noting that this method on one site means “we can always have kids talked to and there is always that extra help available. As a former DSS worker, I wish we’d had this center long ago.”
Bunch, who also does community outreach in the Darkness to Light program as well as law enforcement training and a parent nurturing program, says the best part of her job is the resilience of little kids.
“Even though they’ve been abused and neglected, they come in bright-eyed and still so happy to be in the world. It reminds me of why we do this.”
Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Karlayne Toole works at DCC from an MUSC team of two physicians and four nurse practitioners, who provide exams not only at DCC but other area centers and also do hospital consults. Toole does physical exams – head to toe evaluations, draws blood and tests for infections as well as takes pictures.
“Depending on the circumstances, being able to reassure a child and the family that the child’s body is okay; that they are healthy and they aren’t going to have any physical problems, is probably both the most touching and the most rewarding part of my job,” she says. “Being able to make a difference in a child’s life – that’s what it’s all about.”
DCC is unique in that it has two full-time sheriff deputies on staff, Kris Bell and Tim Morgan.
Bell, who is beginning her third year, and/or Morgan observe recorded forensic interviews on closed circuit television.
“We can interact with the interview, take live notes on our computer and our being at the center means the child only has to be interviewed once,” says Bell. “The child is not re-traumatized by having to repeat the story again and again, which can be horrible!”
She says it’s a family friendly environment; she and Morgan don’t dress in uniform; a child doesn’t have to go near the sheriff’s department. Another advantage is that detectives on the scene can act instantly if a warrant is justified after an interview.
Treatments consist of individual, group and family therapy and a clarification process to help children and families cope with trauma. The most important thing is the proven, evidence-based Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT), says Phillips, because children get a lot of negative cognitions when traumatized, such as “It’s my fault. If I hadn’t done these things, this wouldn’t have happened to me.” Changing negative thoughts and preventing flashbacks by focusing on the injury is a basic element of healing.
The other evidence based program used – and this is funded by the Duke Endowment – is called PCIT, Parent-Child Interactive Therapy. The PCIT is valuable when a child is acting out negatively because of an abuse situation.
The therapist sits in one room with a one-way glass and a microphone and the child and the non-offending care giver, with a bug in the ear, sits in another and they play an interactive game. During the game a child is eventually going to have an episode when something does not go his or her way. The therapist teaches the parent how to deescalate the child’s behavior and bring back positive conduct, a skill the parent can use at home.
Follow-up is case management is making sure that recommended services were provided. Foster care support is an effort to help children who have been displaced from their home or the offending parent had to leave, resulting in lost income where the care-giver is unable to provide some of the things the child needs – and benefits from. These include school supplies, coats in winter time, toys at Christmas, and Easter baskets. The departments of administration and fundraising/donor development are vital to help keep the center on track by garnering funds and managing the day-to-day operations.
 “Nobody provides enough in prevention” says Phillips, “because our time is always basically filled with crisis management.” But DCC does have a good program beginning with being facilitators for Darkness to Light, a sexual abuse prevention program, as well as many other community awareness efforts.
Dr. Joe Moore, a long-time DCC volunteer, must have had his own “village” vision in mind when he observed, “I’ve been around here since the beginning and I can tell you this staff cares. They don’t do it for the money. They do it for the kids. And it shows!”