International delegates attend child abuse congress
Researchers, professionals and politicians from 42 countries are gathering in Calgary this week for an international conference focused on protecting children from abuse.
Members of the Calgary chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse helped organizers mark the official launch of the Congress of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect on Sunday as they drove their motorcycles down Stephen Avenue.
Keynote speakers at the conference, which will be attended by more than 1,100 people, include Sheldon Kennedy, McGill professor Cindy Blackstock and Peter Samuelson, film producer and founder of the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Jackie Sieppert, Dean of the Faculty of Social Work at the U of C, said the congress is bringing together academics and experts such as social workers, doctors and lawyers to talk about child abuse.
“It’s important to have this congress here because child abuse affects everybody,” he said.
“It’s not isolated to any single community or population, it’s something that happens in every neighbourhood and we have an obligation to talk about it and make it a public issue and do something about it.”
Joan van Niekerk, the president of The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) said the conference brings experts together to talk about new research and new practice methodology in the field. She expects one of the key subjects at the congress to be the issue of prevention.
“Once a child has been abused, you can help that child, you can promote that child’s healing, but you can never take the experience away,” she said. “And I would say we’re entering a new era in the child protection field at the moment internationally because we’re beginning to now bring resources together, bring expertise together and really look at the issue of prevention.”
The president of the Calgary chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse, who goes by the name Wheels, said the group came out Sunday in the hopes of helping raise awareness of child abuse.
“There’s kids out there today that are living nightmares, and we want the awareness out there to let them know there’s somebody they can turn to,” he said.
The group acts as a support system for abused children, attending court with them and helping them with the cost of therapies.
“The empowerment that child feels when all these people show up for them — it just does wonders,” he said.
Kennedy said that as part of his speech Monday, he plans to talk about “making the invisible visible.”
The former National Hockey League player is the founder of the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre.
“I don’t believe as a society we truly understand the magnitude of cases that we see,” he said in a phone interview, noting that 72 per cent of people in treatment centres have disclosed early childhood abuse, and that children who have been abused are 26 times more likely to experience homelessness and are at a higher risk of dropping out of high school.
“The average age of kids coming through our doors — the highest percentage of kids being hurt are four to seven,” he said.
“We know where they end up. They are the ones that end up on our streets, in our prisons or dead. So until we connect those dots and make visible that invisible, I don’t think we’ll ever get ahead.”
Sieppert, who is also a social worker, said child abuse leads to various long-term implications, such as anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, aggressive behaviours and effects on self-esteem.
“When you look at child abuse and consider its implications, it has a tremendous impact on those children in particular, but also their families and the entire community,” he said.
The conference will be held at the Telus Convention Centre until Aug. 31.
We know where they end up. They are the ones that end up on our streets, in our prisons or dead.