In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, child advocates got worried. As the shutdown and shelter-in-place orders came quickly across the country, advocates didn’t know how children and live-in partners suffering from abuse were going to fare.
There’s a second wave of problems expected from COVID-19. CACs around Indiana are working to meet the challenge.
“It is always most reaffirming to hear a child say ”thank you“ or ”I feel so much better“ after coming to Susie’s Place. But it makes me even more proud when I hear a child thank one of the forensic interviewers I’ve trained.”
The failure rate for nonprofits isn’t as high as businesses, which routinely hovers around 70% over three years. But nonprofits face a different set of challenges. When a nonprofit starts and succeeds, it’s often attributable to the tenacity and rigorous leadership of its board.
“CACs continue to establish themselves as pillars of their communities for the treatment and prevention of abuse and child maltreatment. These are our children we’re talking about. There will be CAC service for today’s 10,958 kids or the next 10,000 that come,” says Lutz.
Susie’s Place staff conducted over 1,000 interviews in 2016 across two current locations in Avon and Bloomington.
At the current rate of caseload increase, Indiana CACs can expect to see just over 11,000 cases in 2017 and around 14,000 cases by 2020.
Heather Eberth-Teike has become very busy lately providing mental health services to a growing list of children.
See how Indiana’s first CAC is helping kids, families, and staff, cope with trauma and emotions in the course of a forensic interview.
The investigations of Jared Fogle and a former employee are raising awareness of child pornography. And it could lead to stiffer penalties for those who make, sell or trade it.
