The Children's Advocacy Center of Jackson County

Tag: Jackson County

  • A Strong Man

    By Tammi Pitzen, Director of The Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County

    I will let you in on a secret. I love animated movies. I love Disney. I love Pixar. Long before I had my son, I would watch these movies . . . usually not on the big screen, but in the privacy of my own home.

    When my son became old enough to watch movies, but too young to go to the theatre, I bought every animated movie I could find. Usually these movie days ended with me watching the movie alone as my son’s attention would be diverted elsewhere — long before the movie was over.

    I think one of my favorites is the movie Barnyard. Have you seen that one? The animals can all talk but only do so when their human is not around. The main character is a cow who was found and adopted by the Patriarch Cow, Ben. This young cow, Otis, loves to party and have a good time. The Patriarch Ben is trying to teach his son the importance of work, and that being a leader means taking care of those around you.

    There is a line that is the central theme of the movie. “A strong man stands up for himself. A stronger man stands up for others.”

    Wow. That sums up life beautifully. We should be standing up for ourselves and modeling that behavior for our children. We need to make sure that we let people around us know what we need and to show our children that it is okay to take care of your needs and to value yourself.

    Our purpose is to take care of those who are vulnerable and speak for them until they find their voice.

    This month is Child Abuse Prevention/Awareness Month.

    Every year this is a month that turns the spotlight on child abuse victims and what adults can do to keep children safe from abuse. For the month of April we make this huge push for these things to be in the public’s eye. And then it seems it is forgotten for the rest of the year, except by those whose job it is to work to keep kids safe.

    Generally this is when I will write about a lot of statistics. Usually I would tell you that there were 707 confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect in Jackson County, Oregon last year. I would normally tell you that 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before they turn 18. I would tell you that an estimated 400,000 babies born in the United States this year will be sexually abused before they turn 18.

    But this year I wanted to do something more hopeful. I wanted to do something that would start a movement.

    I want to challenge you to embrace Ben’s words. Every day I want you to find a way to stand up for yourself. Value yourself. Help others to value you. And I want you to take it one step further. I want you to find one thing that you can do to be stronger.

    I want you to find one thing that you will do to stand up for abused children. That adds up to a lot being done on behalf of abused children in a year’s time.

    You might be asking yourself “What Can I do?”

    I am going to make it easy for you and make some suggestions:

    • Learn to recognize the signs of child abuse

    • Make a donation to an agency that serves child abuse victims. (my favorite is the Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County :-))

    • Volunteer for a program that serves children

    • Take a child abuse prevention class (The CAC of Jackson County facilitates Stewards of Children/Darkness to Light once a month and also will come to your organization to facilitate a class just for your group)

    • Let your government officials know that you support initiatives that help support child abuse victims getting the best services they can get

    • Let your government officials know that training people who investigate child abuse or work with child abuse victims and their families is a priority

    • Support initiatives like United Way of Jackson County’s Big Idea as a way to empower children to dream big and achieve goals

    • Listen to a child

    • Put a potential offender on notice by insuring you are not leaving your child alone with someone who is identified as unsafe, by knowing who your child spends time with and by insisting on background checks/references for people who will be in positions of authority (babysitters, youth serving programs etc) over your child

    • Report abuse if you suspect it

    That should get you started.

    Live your life in a way that would make Ben, the cow, proud.

    If you have not seen the movie, I strongly encourage it (with or without kids).

     

  • 12 things I learned in my first year as an Oregonian

    By Tammi Pitzen, Executive Director of The Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County

    Tammi and family

    Last week I celebrated my one year anniversary at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County — and my one year living in Oregon.

    I had never even visited Oregon prior to coming here for the job interview in September of 2013. It has been an interesting year. It has been a year of transition and culture shift. It has been a year of learning new things.

    Here are the top twelve things that I have learned, in no particular order:

    12. It does not rain here nearly as much as the rest of the world thinks. Native Oregonians do not own umbrellas. They have really cute rain boots. They have rain coats but no umbrellas.

    11. It gets way hot here. I am from Louisiana and I hear people say all the time, “At least it is a dry heat.” It really doesn’t matter. It IS HOT here. I was shocked to learn that it gets in triple digits in the summer time and stays that way for a few weeks.

    10. There are some of the best wineries in the country right here in Southern Oregon.

    9. The most generous people live in Oregon. I am floored by how much people here give to charity, give to their friends … in time, money and support. People here care deeply about their community members and they show that by the donating time, treasure and talent to causes they are passionate about.

    8. Oregon appreciates a soldier like no other place I have ever lived in or visited. This is evidenced by the great deals offered to a veteran from the State on everything from camping, hunting licenses, property tax breaks, fishing licenses — even on car registrations. The Home Depot here even has parking spots designated for Veterans. It is quite amazing.

    7. The people of Jackson County work together to solve issues. They see a problem. They convene a group. They get things done.

    6. When you live in Oregon, you are either a Duck or a Beaver. And you must choose carefully. It is an important decision. There is even a “civil war” once a year between the Ducks and the Beavers. It is serious business.

    5. Oregon has a lot of cultural experiences available. There is a strong community of artists residing in Southern Oregon. There are theatre experiences offered here that are not offered everywhere. The availability of these fantastic performances has made my “Bucket List” grow in length.

    4. Almost everyone in Oregon owns a RV or a boat or both. Always wanting to emerge ourselves in the local cultural, my husband and I bought an RV before we bought a house. We are looking forward to spending a lot of time in the wilderness.

    3. Children are important in Oregon. This is evidenced by the laws enacted to protect children and by the fact that the State sets aside money to train and support multidisciplinary teams who investigate child abuse.

    2. Oregon is not a state that wants to follow. It is a pioneer state and that is taken very seriously. The people in Oregon want to, and most times do, pave the way for others to follow.

    1. There is a sense of community here that I have not felt in other places I have lived. You can feel it in the schools. You can feel it in the churches. You can feel it walking down the street. This is a place that invites you to call it home.

    We are so happy to be here!

  • Don’t underestimate your power to matter

    By Tammi Pitzen, Executive Director of The Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County

    We are rolling out our exciting online campaign entitled “You Matter” and really that concept has taken over my life.

    I say that a little jokingly but really, in truth, most of my thoughts the last couple of months have been filtered through that lens. Not just my “work stuff” but all of “my stuff” has taken on an extra screening — does this matter? Whether I am washing clothes, taking my son to a play date, reading over homework, smiling at the lady in the drive thru, or just trying to find time for a date night with my husband: Does this matter? Who does it matter to? Why does it matter?

    Every day we make choices that matter.

    Even the small choices have the potential to impact our world in large ways. We usually underestimate how those small choices will impact our lives and those around us. What I have found is that for the most part we do not believe that what we do matters to anyone. We do not believe that what we have to offer can make any impact in any significant way.

    I began to ponder that a little as we were gearing up and brainstorming on all the many ways people matter in our efforts to address child abuse.

    We, as a society, value large splashy gifts of goo gobs of money, time or talent. While those gifts are important (and goo gobs is a term I learned from my Development Director, by the way) they alone cannot sustain us over time. I think about that when I am signing thank you letters from the center for donations. I try to write something on every single letter that goes out. I will be honest when I first started signing the thank you letters I had the intention of writing on the ones to people who gave a certain amount, but I could not decide what amount would be considered significant. It was all significant, and so in the end on that first round of thank you letters, I wrote on every single one and I continue that practice today.

    Every single dollar amount donated makes a difference in the life of a child served by the CAC.

    Every single person who drops off an in-kind gift donation, who volunteers an hour to help with the Winter Gala, every single check sent in or donation made on-line makes an impact. That is not something I say lightly. After working in the field of child abuse for more than 23 year, soon to be 24, I have found that those small random acts of kindness or generosity are really the building blocks that sustain any effort to address this huge societal problem. And isn’t that true of any movement that is successful?

    There have been incredible things accomplished one thoughtful step at a time. I think of our holiday gift drive where we provide parents with gifts to give to their children when they cannot afford to do that on their own. It all happens because people buy an extra gift and donate it to the center to give. Every year we have more than enough and it comes from a lot of different sources. I think about our Gala and how many man hours it takes to make that successful. No one single person makes that contribution.

    Imagine if every single person gave two dollars to help treat child abuse. In Jackson County there are 208,545 residents, according to the 2013 census. We would raise $417,090 for the treatment of child abuse—all for less than a cup of coffee at your favorite drive thru coffee stand.

    What if half of the population of Jackson County could afford to donate ten dollars and the other half could donate time and talent? I get excited about the possibilities of what we can do when we believe that what we do matters.

    It really is the small acts of kindness and generosity that make the world go around.

    I think about how much “You Matter” in a lot of different ways. You suspect a child in your life is being abused, and what you do or don’t do matters to that child. Step out of your comfort zone, pick up the phone, and call in a report. You have a talent that you would like donate for the Gala, for the healing of children, or just for fun. It matters. It could be life-changing. Do you have time to write a blog about how this community matters in our efforts to address child abuse? Contact us. It matters! Do you have two hours that you can give up to learn about how to protect the children in your life from sexual abuse? Contact the CAC and sign up. It matters.

    We all matter. All of our gifts matter. None of us can keep our children protected all alone. It takes every single one of us, each in our own very individual way and at our own individual level. WE are the solution. WE CAN keep kids safe. WE CAN provide Hope! We each need to do our part.

    Every day I make a conscious decision to do something on behalf of an abused child.

    It may be a donation of time or money. It is a family affair. My husband has entered into this world with me. On any given day he may be making a puppet theatre to donate to the therapy department or maybe you will see him unclogging a water fountain. My son has been known to donate a toy or food to a cause that supports children because “a child needs toys and food!”

    What will you do today that matters in the life of an abused child?