Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Crawfish help fight child abuse
Safety Center hosts prevention training
The broiling heat on June 6 didn’t deter Children’s Safety Center of Washington County champions from attending the 10th annual Founders Crawfish for Kids Crawfish Boil. Participants observed social distancing guidelines at the sold-out event outdoors in the parking lot of one of its sponsors, First National Bank in Fayetteville.
Center volunteers (masked, of course) met supporters at the drive-up fundraiser at their vehicles, took their orders and returned with “crawfish and fixin’s” to the tune of more than $13,000 in three hours for the nonprofit organization.
The group who launched the event 10 years ago, the “Founders,” are Reggie Sanders, Courtney Silkwood, Jeremy Treat, Kendrick Williams, Shane Hevelone, Brent Courtney, Dan Arrington, Jeff DeVore, Gregg McMullen and Jeff Pederson.
The Children’s Safety Center coordinates the investigation, prosecution and treatment services in child abuse cases while providing child advocates, forensic interviews, sexual assault examinations, mental health therapy and child abuse prevention trainings. The nonprofit organization has helped more than 11,000 children since opening in 1997.
“Unfortunately, child abuse does not stop during a pandemic,” Emily Rappe Fisher, development director said. “As isolation continues for children quarantined at home, perhaps with an abuser or on the internet unsupervised, the risk for abuse increases. Without access to other adults who are mandated reporters, abuse often goes unreported. As the state begins to reopen and children are once again around mandated
reporters and other adults, the number of child abuse reports are surging.”
The center saw some 50 alleged child abuse victims in the first two weeks of this month — compared to 50 children in all of May.
“Being an essential center, the doors of the CSC have remained open, and our staff has continuously provided care for these vulnerable victims. And we will continue to provide children and families the support they need for as long as we can and will continue to adjust our policies and procedures to coincide with the ongoing pandemic,” Rapp Fisher said. “As our therapists continue to provide therapy using telehealth, a child expressed how thankful she is to be able to have her session with her therapist. The client said, ‘Still having therapy, even over video, is the only normal thing for me right now.’ Therapy recovery for victims of childhood trauma is already complicated, and covid-19 is adding a whole new layer to mental health needs.”
The CSC offers free child abuse prevention training sessions throughout the year, the next of which will be online from noon to 1 p.m. June 24. Led by Casey Atwood, program director, the workshop’s topic will be “how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.” To RSVP for the training contact, Atwood at casey@childrenssafetycenter.org. Please include an address to mail worksheets and body safety materials.
If you suspect abuse or a child discloses to you, call the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline 844.SAVE.A.CHILD (844-728-3224). For more information or other ways to help the Children’s Safety Center, visit www.childrenssafetycenter.org.