The Children's Advocacy Center of Jackson County

Tag: PROTECT OUR CHILDREN Child Abuse Prevention Training

  • Take action to change children’s lives

     

     

    By Kirsten Arreguin, Program Manger, Jackson County Child Welfare and Board Member, The Children’s Advocacy Center

    April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

    Thank you for taking the time to read and get informed about child abuse prevention. Most people would probably avoid reading about the abuse and neglect of children. It’s easier to ignore it, pretend that it doesn’t happen in your community, in your neighborhood or to children that you know.

    But you’re different. You’ve taken the time to educate yourself or you may even know firsthand what it’s like to suffer from child abuse. For whatever reason, you’re the kind of person who gets involved in finding solutions. You’re a leader in your community’s fight against child abuse and you show a great deal of strength and courage.

    You know the warning signs of a child in danger might include:

    • Frequent or unexplained injuries
    • Sudden changes in personality, activities, or behavior
    • Inappropriate sexual behavior
    • Depression and anxiety
    • Hypervigilance

    You know the warning signs of a family at risk that may include:

    • Abuse of alcohol or drugs
    • Domestic violence
    • Isolation from others
    • Difficulties controlling anger or stress
    • Appearing uninterested in the care, nourishment or safety of their children

    Are you looking for more ways to make a positive difference in the lives of children? You already have a heart to serve, so here’s your next challenge: Look at the suggestions below and resolve to take action on one of these this year.

    Take the Training!

    Protect our Children is a child sexual abuse prevention training program offered through The Children’s Advocacy Center. This free training teaches you how to protect your child and those around you from sexual abuse. You will learn to spot the signs of possible abuse and respond effectively if you suspect abuse.

    I’ve taken this valuable training, and I urge you to do the same. Please go to the Children’s Advocacy Center’s website and click on Services/Protect Our Children to register to find out more. You can attend 3 hour training held monthly at the Jackson County Library or request a training for your work, church, or organization. I can’t tell you how important this training is for every adult in our community. Please consider signing up today.

    Volunteer your Time & Talents!

    Have you already taken the Protect our Children training? Would you also consider volunteering your time to assist others to complete the training? There are several opportunities available for you to help make more trainings available to the community. Your time and talents are needed in many other ways also. You can view more opportunities on the CAC website when you click on the Volunteer tab. No time is ever wasted when it’s spent in the service of a child who’s experienced abuse or neglect.

    If you’re not able to volunteer your time, can I make a personal ask of you? The CAC provides specialized medical and therapeutic services to hundreds of children every year. They need your financial support to continue offering these valuable services. Please consider making a donation today by visiting the website and clicking Donate. Believe me, I know firsthand how important your gifts are to the children who are seen at the CAC.

    Open Your Heart and Home!

    As the Program Manager for Jackson County Child Welfare, I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to tell you about our community’s great need for foster homes. Unfortunately, at this time, we are struggling daily to find families who can provide foster care for children who have been or are suspected of being the victims of abuse or neglect. It is a heartbreak to have no other option than to separate siblings into different homes because there simply is no room for them to stay together. Would you like to find out more about becoming a foster parent? Please contact us at 541-776-6120 or visit us on Facebook Jackson County Foster Care and Adoption.

    Thank you for having a heart for children and a desire to help in their healing.

     

    Kirsten Arreguin

     

  • The tragedy of Victoria Martens we must prevent in the future

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

    Today I am sitting in my office trying to get caught up after the big snow fall in Medford.  The office is officially closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  It is very quiet and peaceful here.

    I have been reading about a case out of New Mexico of some pretty horrific abuse.  Maybe you have read about it?  It caught my attention on Facebook on a friend’s feed. I remember hearing a little bit about this case earlier in the investigation.

    The child was ten years old and named Victoria Martens.

    She was sexually abused and killed by her Mother’s boyfriend and his cousin while the mom watched. I would not advise researching for more information on this case, as most of the reports I have read have been pretty graphic and pretty horrific.

    Most of my career in child protection I have categorized parents in two categories. There are those who do the best they can and that just isn’t good enough to keep their kids healthy and safe, so their children are abused. These parents have the ability to learn and have the desire to do so.  These parents are the parents that when their children are removed from their care, they are usually returned after a treatment plan.  Or maybe the children are left in their care with a treatment plan.

    Then there are the parents I say are, well, just “mean” parents.  It appears from the articles that I have read that Victoria unfortunately had a “mean” mom.  These are the parents that are somewhat sadistic and are just cruel.  I will admit that I do not know the truth of what happened and I am making judgements based on what I have read in the news article.

    There among the news reports on the case is an interview with the Mother’s parents.  The case reports state that the Mom watched her current boyfriend, and two other men before that, have sex with her daughter for her own sexual gratification.  (I wasn’t kidding when I said the reports were graphic…they are disturbing even to me after many years of hearing these kinds of stories.)  There are reports that she watched two people give her daughter, who was ten years-old, meth in order to calm her down so they could have sex with her.

    Victoria’s grandparents say that the child never said anything and appeared to be happy. A friend and neighbor of the mom states, “I know Victoria is in heaven saying forgive my mom.”   The grandparents agree.  The grandparents report that their daughter loved her children and was a hard working single mother.

    If that is the case, then that leaves the rest of us to ask what went wrong.  What can we learn from this in order to prevent it in the future? 

    I need to know, even though I do not know Victoria, that she did not die for her mom’s, and the others allegedly involved, own perverted reasons.  I need to know we, as in the global we, can do better for the Victorias in the world.

    I have poured over the news reports in this case.  My heart hurts.  I cry not understanding how this happens.  I compare it to my own life.  What would have to happen in my life that I would find myself there and allow this to happen to ANY one’s child.  I can come up with no scenarios.

    My only hope is that most people in this world are made up of a moral fiber that does not allow for events to happen that would end in this result for a child.  For any child.

    Everyone one interviewed, or at least that I could find to read, stated that there were no signs that this was going on.  The child seemed happy.  Mom is described as a hard working single mom.

    I wonder how many people in this child’s life had any education regarding identifying and responding to child sexual abuse.  The mom states in one of her interviews that there were other men, acquaintances of mom’s, who had sex with this child because mom liked to watch.

    I have a favor to ask of all those who are outraged and horrified by the Victoria Martens case. 

    If you believe that this ten year-old should not have been forced to have sex with the men in her mother’s life, if you think it is a tragedy that she was killed one day after her tenth birthday, and if you would do anything in your power to prevent this from happening to children in your life or in your community or in your child’s life or in your grandchild’s life, then please join the Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County in our efforts to protect the children in our community from sexual abuse. 

    Sign up for a class through our Protect Our Children project.  There are public classes every month.  We will even do private classes for you if you have 5 people or more who are interested in protecting children.

    We can make a difference.  We can’t change what has already happened, but we can control what we do in the future to prevent these tragedies from happening.

    Let’s all decide together that we will not accept that Victoria’s abuse and death could not have been prevented, that there were no signs. 

     

     

  • Transformation: Why CAC Matters

    By Leah Howell, Jackson County Training Coordinator, PROTECT OUR CHILDREN Child Abuse Prevention Training

    My son just started preschool this year.  Two days per week, he gathers with 10 other 3 year-olds and follows a routine of play, circle time, and snack.

    Right now he and his classmates are learning about the life-cycle of the monarch butterfly, and subsequently, they were able to capture two caterpillars. Inside an aquarium, and with assistance from a branch tilted at just the right angle, those caterpillars each made a chrysalis.  What an amazing process this insect goes through – changing from one thing, to something so different!

    I wonder if there is something innate in the caterpillar that realizes someday he will not be confined to such a small area of the world, eating every minute of the day, trapped in a slow moving, defenseless body.  Do they know, somehow, that there is more in store for them? Or if, when he sees other monarch butterflies, does he innately “know” that is what he will become?

    Children come into this world totally dependent and defenseless too.

    I do not know if each child is born with an innate knowledge of their potential, but I do know that the beliefs about their own worth can be easily influenced by negative messages: “You’re a bad kid,” “You’re too emotional,” “You are an inconvenience,” and “You are nothing special.”

    These messages early and often have the power to keep a kid on the ground, metaphorically speaking, dragging wings that seem like nothing more than a nuisance.

    I love being part of the Children’s Advocacy Center – an organization that prioritizes protection, support and care of kids,…a place where the employees and volunteers speak worth and potential into kid’s lives all day, every day… a place that teaches kids how to start to use the amazing wings they’ve got, and then, through amazing transformations, kids learn to fly!

    Come be a part of these transformations!

    If you have time, kind words, energy, and love to give – call Ginny Sagal our Volunteer Coordinator: 541-282-5474 Ext. 113.

     

     

  • How are children faring in Oregon?

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

    Today I am sitting in my office listening to the rain and feeling a little sad and a lot overwhelmed.  It’s Sunday and the office is very quiet except for the rain trickling through the rain gutters and the tap of my fingers on the keyboard.

    No, I am not sad because I am working on the weekend or because it is raining.

    I am sad because I just read the 2015 Child Welfare Data Book.

    There is much controversy across the country because there are statistics that have been released in recent years that indicate child abuse is on the decrease. I have watched this discussion and sometimes participated in this discussion over the last few years and I just don’t see this to be true in my every day practice.

    According to the 2015 Child Welfare Data Book, 27 children in Oregon died as a result of child abuse and neglect. 

    In 2014 that number was 13.  In 2013 that number was 10.  27 is a number that describes an amount but does not tell the story.  Behind that 27 are children that died at the hands of another.  21 of those deaths were caused by one or both parents.  20 of those children were under the age of 5.

    I do not know all their stories.  I do not know the heinous circumstance in which they died.  I would not recognize them in a picture if you showed it to me.  But my heart weeps just the same.  Each of those children carried with them potential that was never realized.  Each of those children had dreams that were never dreamt.

    Our community will never be what it could have been if those 27 children lived. 

    But, unfortunately, that is not all of the story.  As I read further, I learned that

    41.5% of the time for the abused and neglected children in Oregon, the perpetrator is their mom.  37% of the time it is their father.  A relative, a live in companion, foster parent, or guardian are the perpetrator 15.5% of the time.

    94% of the time the perpetrator was someone who, by their very role in the child’s life, is supposed to be a protector not an abuser.

    I read further.  In Jackson County our numbers increased as well.  In 2013, there were 707 victims of child abuse in our county.  In 2014 that rose to 801 and in 2015 rose again to 954.

    These are more than numbers.  There were 954 children in our community that were harmed in some way.  Chances are you know one of these 954.  Chances are they go to school with your child or grandchild.  Chances are that your paths crossed with one of these children.  You may have sat next to one at church or at a community event.  You may have seen one riding their bike in your neighborhood.

    Please do not think this is not your business.  It is your business.  It is my business.  These children are our children.

    As I read through the “numbers”, faces of children I have worked with over the years flash in my mind’s eye.  Some of them are ones that I was not happy with the outcomes and, if I am honest, I often wonder what happened after.  What kind of adult are they?  Are they happy?  Did they find peace?

    These are the thoughts that will be running through my brain, stealing sleep from me over the next few weeks.  It happens every year after I read the Data Book.  It’s predictable.  I imagine there are Department of Human Services Supervisors and case workers doing the same.

    Every year when the report is released I wonder what else I can do to keep that number from increasing.  What else can the CAC do?  What else can our community partners do?

    We can’t bury our head in the sand and pretend it isn’t happening.  Jackson County has the 9th highest rate of abuse per 1000 children in the state of Oregon. 

    No one entity and no one person is the answer.  It takes all of us.

    Not sure what you can do?

    Let me suggest a few things:

    • Make a donation to the Children’s Advocacy Center.  We provide fantastic evidence based interventions to the abused children and their non-offending caregivers that we serve. We do not charge the families for these services. The bottom line is; it takes money to provide these services. Donate Now.
    • Become a Children’s Advocacy Center volunteer. Or become a volunteer at The Family Nurturing Center or at CASA.  We all need volunteers.  We need people who can give some time that will help a child.  The Advocacy Center needs some adults who can answer a phone, play a game of checkers, and make a phone call or two…..drink a cup a coffee with a non-offending caregiver or share a gold fish with a child while they are waiting for their appointment. Learn more about volunteering at the CAC or call Ginny at: vsagal@cacjc.org or 541-734-5437
    • Take a class.  The Children’s Advocacy Center has a prevention program called Protect Our Children that uses Darkness to Light’s curriculum “Stewards of Children” to teach adults to recognize and respond to child sexual abuse.  It is an adult’s responsibility to keep kids safe but how can you do that if you don’t know how to identify it.  Or even better, host a class for your church, your civic organization, your place of employment, your best friends—any group of people you are involved in. Schedule a class for yourself or your group
    • Talk to your legislative representatives about the importance of funding in programs that respond and intervene in child abuse.  Talk to them about the CAC and the work that we do. Find your legislators
    • Become informed.  Attend the Free CAC Community Forum coming up on Nov. 7th regarding keeping kids safe on the internet.

    You Matter.