Program targets child abuse

WEST CHESTER » Victims of child sexual abuse in many cases keep information about what has happened — or is happening — to them, out of fear or embarrassment or confusion, sometimes for years.

Now, a newly funded effort by the Crime Victims’ Center of Chester County will attempt to not only help those victims open up about their experiences, but also to teach them and their parents how to prevent the abuse in the first place.

The organization will join with the Chester County District Attorney’s Office and public elementary schools across the county to com-

bat child sexual abuse. The program will be funded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network at Penn State, and will bring the center’s child safety programs that are already in place to children on a pro-active basis.

The Safe and Healthy Communities initiative is a three-year program expected to reduce rates of child sexual abuse, according to a press release announcing the effort. It is the first of its kind to tackle child sex abuse in such a comprehensive manner, going beyond the programs the center now provides on a by-request nature to install them in public schools on a regular timeline.

In addition, through the Safe and Healthy Communities

Initiative, the organization will offer free, two-hour in-person workshops and online trainings to adults in the community who have been identified as having at-risk children by the county’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families, according to the announcement.

The training includes compelling stories from experts and survivors about the importance of talking to kids early and often. These trainings equip the community with the knowledge to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse.

The program is in keeping with the objective of the center’s new executive officer, Christine Zaccarelli, to bring the organization’s services more to the attention of the community.

“We at Crimes Victims’ Center are honored to be facilitating such an important initiative that works to prevent child sexual abuse

in Chester County before it happens and to also provide the adult population with the knowledge to recognize and react to red flags,” Zaccarelli said Tuesday.

Deborah Ryan, a former prosecutor in charge of the D.A.’s Child Abuse Unit who now works at the center, will be the coordinator of the SHC programs. The sessions will be run by center staff members — trained facilitators who will appear in person in the county’s schools to talk with kids about appropriate touching, whom the kids can talk to about issues, and other simple topics.

“This program will enable us to provide both children and adults the vital education necessary to stop child sexual abuse,” Ryan said. “Child sexual abuse is a chronic, underreported crime. One in 10 children will be sexually abused before their eighteenth birthday. As many as 90 percent of children are abused by either

a family member or by someone a family trusts.

Ryan said that the program will help children feel comfortable about reporting incidents of sexual abuse they experience or witness. “Most children do not report the abuse because they are scared, ashamed, confused or do not even know the conduct is wrong,” she said. “Kids are often told to keep the abuse a secret and then suffer in silence for years. The consequences are often lifealtering. Many survivors report excessive substance abuse, as well as psychological, emotional, social and physical problems that may last throughout adulthood.

“These programs will have a huge impact in protecting our children,” Ryan said

In the release, District Attorney Tom Hogan stated, that the program “will teach children and adults how to begin an open dialogue about identifying

signs of abuse and how to report the abuse. The recent Larry Nassar case that rocked the U.S. gymnastics community is a prime example of the type of crimes that this program attempts to prevent.”

Hogan’s office recently released figures showing a steady increase of reports in the county of child abuse in the wake of the Penn State Jerry Sandusky scandal, which set new rules and procedures for reporting. In 2017, the number of cases of reported abuse that were made to county sources were 1,924, up from 1,681 cases in 2016, an increase of 14.4 percent. However, the 1,924 reported cases were an astonishing 364 percent higher than those made in 2014, the first year of statistics released by the D.A.’s Office. The number of reports that year was 414, 1,510 fewer than 2017.

“Chester County has seen a significant increase in child abuse reports over the

past six years,” said John Sanville, superintendent of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, one of the 12 districts that have agreed to participate in the program. “This is a nationwide problem where adults need to take action to protect our most vulnerable population. Chester County has seen a significant increase in child abuse reports over the past six years.

“Our law enforcement has done a tremendous job in investigating and prosecuting these cases,” Sanville said. “This training will help prevent the abuse in the first place. We are optimistic that these programs will make a difference and help our children.”