Shattering the Silence
 |
 |
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Video Clip(s)Children who are sexually abused in southeast Missouri typically head to the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence (SEMO-NASV) in Cape Girardeau to help investigators solve their cases.
SEMO-NASV provides physical exams and forensic interviews for every sexually abused child who comes to the facility. The one-stop approach allows children to be interviewed only once, instead of several times.
The one-stop approach also benefits parents who often have transportation problems or have to take time from work to bring their child to the appointments.
Staff at SEMO-NASV, which also provides services to sexually abused adults, have worked with approximately 3,000 children ages 17 and younger since it opened in 1997.
The youngest child was 6 weeks old. The oldest adult was 85.
Most children seen at the facility (32.6 percent) from 2000-2007 were in the 3-6 year-old range. Children ages 12 and 13 were the next highest in number (13.7 percent). Eight percent of the clients were two years old or younger.
Currently, the clinic has eight full-time staff, including a victim’s advocate, and four part-time or contracted employees.
The clinic is funded by grants, tax credits, some state money, and about $115,000 a year from the United Way in Cape Girardeau and Sikeston, said Tammy Gwaltney, executive director of the facility. In July, a drop in funding forced the clinic to close its counseling center.
“That has left a large vacuum,” Gwaltney said. “Right now, we refer clients out, but we are working on ways to bring back the counseling unit.”
A safe place
From the time a sexually abused child steps into SEMO-NASV, the focus is on making him or her feel safe and comfortable.
Plush green chairs in the waiting room seem to wrap their arms around visitors who sink back into the soft cushions. Dolls wait for children in a wicker basket. There is a stuffed dog with floppy ears and a ski cap. Toys fill a large plastic toy box and books sit on its shelves.
Halls and doors are decorated for the holidays. The decorations reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of the children who come to the center. There are more comfortable chairs in one of the two small rooms where the forensic interviewers talks with each child.
The interviews are videotaped, so everything said and done in the room is documented. Everyone who needs to talk with the child — police, prosecutors, social workers, juvenile authorities — is in another room, watching and listening on closed-circuit television. They also can send in questions for the child.
“Everyone leaves knowing what happened and what needs to be done without having to put the child through several interviews,” she said. “Someone might need to see the victim again and clarify something, but this eliminates the victim having to keep repeating the story.”
After the interview, every child receives a forensic examination by one of the clinic’s two nurse practitioners. Both are SAFE (sex assessment forensic examiner) and SANE (sex assessment nurse examiner) certified.
The examination is visual, and is done with a $30,000 machine called a coloposcope.
“Nothing is put into any orifice of the child,” Gwaltney said. “The child has all the control. They know at any time they can say, ‘You can’t do that.’
“We would not force them to do anything — they have already been through that.”
The coloposcope has a magnifying lens that increases to 15 times normal size. Physical damage that is not visible to the eye shows up in the magnified picture. A visual recording is made of the entire examination.
Gwaltney said the clinic is unusual in that every victim has access to a head-to-toe physical exam and developmental assessment. As a result, many health issues unrelated to the trauma have been identified, particularly in children whose families have no health insurance to cover routine care. No one is charged for the exam, although the clinic bills insurance and Medicaid whenever applicable.
“It’s just another way we try to keep the doors open,” Gwaltney said.
Filling a need
Gwaltney, who has a master’s degree in social work, began the clinic in 1997 to meet the unique needs of her clients who were adult victims of child sexual abuse. At the time, there was no rape crisis center in the area to help sex abuse victims.
“This is a very unique population,” she said. “Their thought process, their behavior … is very much linked to the abuse. I had 70- and 80-year-olds who had been suppressing this all their lives.”
Gwaltney began a campaign to garner community support for a clinic. After the local newspaper did a story on the issue, she received a call from Cheryl Mothes of St. Francis Medical Center. Mothes asked how the hospital could help.
Together, they held community meetings to identify problems and develop solutions. The meetings drew clergy, teachers, law enforcement officers, social workers and people from a wide variety of careers.
The conversation made it clear that there was no coordinated system of care for people reporting abuse, but one was sorely needed.
Gwaltney and Kathy Blevins, a nurse practitioner, decided to form the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence. The name is a reminder that they serve all of southeastern Missouri and that sex abuse is violence, acted out in a sexual manner.
Blevin’s employer, Dr. Jonathan Thomas, offered them a room in his office for sexual assault exams. At first, Gwaltney and Blevins worked full-time jobs and funded the clinic with their own money. People donated used furniture for the office.
The next year, Thomas moved to a larger office and allowed the women to open their clinic in the basement. Gwaltney wrote grants and put budgets together at night. Area attorneys helped her apply for nonprofit status, and accountants helped with financial issues.
In 1998, the clinic worked with 42 children. The following year, that number increased to 58.
By 2000, however, referrals were growing faster than the clinic could handle. The women were providing educational programs in schools, and as a result, teachers and police officers began referring children to the clinic. Gwaltney was working at Southeast Missouri University during the day, but the demand at the clinic was too much for part-time work.
She and another board member went to St. Francois Medical Center CEO Steve Bjelich and asked for his help with seed money to fund a full-time clinic. He got them $25,000 from the Medial Center’s Foundation, and an anonymous donor matched it. That allowed Gwaltney to resign as board president and quit her job to work at the clinic.
Education is a must
One key to ending child sexual abuse is education.
Staff of the SEMO NASV visit approximately 12,000 school children each year.
“We tell them, if anybody ever tries to hug, touch, or kiss you anywhere on your body where you don’t want to be hugged, touched or kisses, it’s okay to tell, and here is who you can tell...,” Gwaltney said.
The staff also works with teachers to teach them how to respond to children who disclose that they were abused. Teachers should stay calm, hear what the child is saying and thank them for telling what happened. They also should assure the child that he or she is not in trouble for telling, Gwaltney said.
Nearly every time they do a presentation, children come forward in school and calls increase, she added.
It is important for adults to know how to talk with their child about sexual abuse. Too often, adults talk about “stranger danger” rather than addressing abuse by family and friends. They discuss “good touch, bad touch” — value laden terms — instead of being specific about the type and location of the touch, Gwaltney said.
Adults must seize opportunities to help end child sexual abuse, Gwaltney said. She explained that some communities set up coalitions to address ways to protect children and to educate citizens about sexual abuse. An effective coalition would include a diverse membership with a wide range of experience and knowledge.
“We have two choices,” she said of the problem of child sexual abuse. “We bury our head in the sand, or we get involved to stop this.
“The happiest day of my life will be when we can all shut our doors and say, ‘Yay!’ We’ve stopped child abuse!”
Paula Barr is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 172 or at pbarr@dailyjournalonline.com.
- Series prompts response of all kinds from readers
- Healing can begin after secrets are exposed
- Predators prowl the information highway
- Most offenders spend lifetime on sex registry
- 'It's just a family secret'
- Father used 'love' to molest daughters
- Wife knew husband abused her, but not their child
- Old love nearly destroys woman's life
- Mother cries for Hanna
- Secret almost caused woman's death
- Goal at sexual predator unit is to break deviant cycle
- Man finds help at treatment center
- Second time means success for offender
- Internet paves road for crimes against children
- Sex offenders must be on registry
- FBI tries to reduce vulnerability of children
- Nix tracks Internet predators
- Officer heads task force to prevent Internet crimes against children
- Project investigates, prosecutes Internet sexual predators
- Prosecutor says he felt swamped with abuse cases
- Most offenders are family or friends of victim
- Convincing jury is a challenge
- Justus ruling affects how prosecutors prepare for child abuse cases
- Prosecutor tries to re-establish pilot program for child abuse
- Record year for solving federal child sex exploitation cases
- Finkelhor: 50 percent decrease in child abuse cases
- Lawyer, professor is critic of sex offender registries
- Answers to Quiz
- Prevention is imperative for sex offenders
- Treatment programs often identify other victims
- Therapy uses eye movement as key to healing
- Successful completion of MOSOP is required for early release
- Prison can be an expensive option
» Resources