Evick

ELKINS — Executive Director Margot Evick of the Randolph Tucker Children’s Advocacy Center (RTCAC) visited the Rotary Club of Elkins.

With its origin in 1987, the RTCAC is a safe, child-friendly facility where child protection, criminal justice, and child treatment professionals work together to investigate abuse in Randolph and Tucker Counties, hold offenders accountable, and help children heal. All services are aimed at reducing trauma so children and families may begin the healing process.

“We work with community partners to support healing and justice for children and families who are victims of child abuse. The Child Advocacy Center provides multi-disciplinary services for children and families,” said Evick. Collaborative decisions are made by Child Protective Services, the DHHR internal investigative unit, law enforcement, mental health professionals, prosecutors, medical professionals and victim advocates.

Before the creation of the Child Advocacy Center, a child had to speak to many individuals perhaps including a teacher, a school principal, a nurse, the police, medical professionals, a Child Protection Services investigator, lawyers, counselors. A child would sometimes speak with up to fifteen people. With the creation of the Child Advocacy Center, children only need to speak to one person to get the process started.

“A child can come to the CAC with a parent and advocates meet with them, get their information, the child talks to a trained forensic investigator who has the skills to talk with children and gather statements in a legally sound manner. The child can also talk to a doctor and talk to a counselor, all in one space,” added Evick.

The RTCAC has a partnership with the Pediatric Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, Rachel Anger, who does the exams for the children who come to their facility. Mental health consultations are provided by Youth Health Service.

The RTCAC is a grass roots movement that started as a national network of child advocacy centers. It then became the National Childrens Alliance. In 1990, the Victims of Child Abuse Act was authorized and in 1992, federal funding was appropriated to support the organization. The RTCAC is part of the National Childrens Alliance Southern Regional Children’s Advocacy Center. The RTCAC belongs to the West Virginia Child Abuse Network. In 2007, child advocacy centers were defined in the West Virginia State Code and in 2008, state funding was provided for hired staff.

In 2006, there were only two accredited child advocacy centers in four counties. Now, there are twenty-one child advocacy centers state-wide covering 46 counties with the goal of having all counties covered in the next five years.

“We see kids from three years old all the way until young adulthood if they have disabilities. We want to make sure there’s coordinated investigations between law enforcement and CPS in all those cases,” added Evick. “Team forensic interviews happen, case review happens every month where we talk about the ongoing cases of what’s happening so that all the gaps are closed.”

Recent developments and trends include the deepening of services provided at a child advocacy center. “A lot of CACs are now providing on-site mental health services, hiring their own counselors or having a memo of understanding with an agency to provide those services,” said Evick. “Youth with problematic sexual behaviors is something that we’re trying to make sure our team knows how to respond to in an appropriate way so that if there are charges that need to be met it’s still in a therapeutic way.”

The RTCAC has a governing board of directors and Evick serves as the Executive Director. There is a CAC coordinator who heads up all the forensic interviews, another part-time forensic interviewer, a family advocate and an outreach coordinator who goes into the schools and attends events. The family advocate creates and provides services and activities for families and the community to foster strength, healthy living and overall well-being for the whole family.

With the child advocacy center model, “Cases are less likely to fall through the cracks, it provides avenues for investigators to gain more information about a case, it provides opportunities to coordinate investigative duties, reducing the chance of one agency inadvertently impeding another investigation,” concluded Evick.

The Randolph Tucker Children’s Advocacy Center staff is dedicated to helping children in Randolph and Tucker counties heal from abuse. More information about the Center can be found at www.rtcac.org or by calling Evick at 304-630-2214.

Rotary is a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in their communities, and in themselves. Visit www.Rotary.org to learn more about Rotary International, visit the club’s Facebook page — Rotary Club of Elkins — or contact club president Kristie Vandevander at k_ware@yahoo.com for more information about the Rotary Club of Elkins.