Pooch comforts victims of child abuse
Courtrooms can be intimidating — and even re-traumatizing — to child victims of abuse, so a certain yellow lab is there to help.
Wren is a four-legged “staff member” of the Zebra Child Protection Centre, a non-profit child abuse response centre in downtown Edmonton. This year marks her fifth anniversary of work, as well as the fifth year of the centre’s support dog program.
“She’s that initial comfort and that initial calming presence,” said Becci Watson, the centre’s director of justice partnerships and support. “She’s that warm, cuddly, physical comfort that children might not otherwise get in the criminal justice process.”
The centre supports kids and their non-offending family members as they move through the justice system — from disclosures of abuse, to police interviews and the courthouse.
As part of the Very Important Paws program, Wren has greeted children nearly 650 times.
Last year, she and the centre’s other facility dog, Fletcher, joined children in more than 160 forensic interviews with police.
Wren also accompanies children to the courthouse; if they’re testifying, she’ll join them on stand. Last year, she and Fletcher sat with children giving testimony more than 60 times.
The neutral, non-judgmental demeanour of the dog is important for children going through the system, Watson said.
“Defence lawyers can’t tell us that the dog has swayed the child in any way,” she said.
“There’s no leading questions coming from the dog. They are simply there to be with the child.”
During particularly hard forensic interviews, Watson said detectives will find comfort in petting Wren as well.
Wren joined the Zebra Child Protection Centre after training for the first three years of her life at the Pacific Assistance Dogs Society, an internationally-accredited dog school in Burnaby, B.C.
“We see the impact every day,” Watson said.
“I’ll be sitting in my office, a little one is toddling by, she’s holding Wren’s leash, she’s laughing. Often, she’s telling Wren to hurry up — Wren’s a slower walker.”