Special spinners:
Child abuse victims’ advocate helps kids build courage to tell their stories
Volunteers work on pinwheels — each one represents one of 235 child abuse cases handled by Healing Hearts Child Advocacy Center in 2014.
Healing Hearts Child Advocacy Center volunteers planted 235 pinwheels at six locations last weekend to represent the child abuse cases they reviewed in 2014.
They will be in the ground in each DeSoto County city throughout April, National Child Abuse Prevention Month. While passers-by may gasp at the volume of pinwheels, for many of the spinning petaled circles, Darlene Cunningham knows a face.
Her background in human services stretches nearly 20 years and includes working in sexual assault services at the YWCA in Chicago and in prevention education programs for children. She is a victim advocate at Healing Hearts in Southaven, a first stop for DeSoto County children to detail their stories of abuse.
Cunningham, 59, of Olive Branch, works directly with children and caregivers, guiding them to counseling and other services. She provides emotional support and sometimes accompanies the child to court.
People often ask how is she able to cope with hearing all of the horror stories.
Listening is worth it: She thinks of the outcome, of children who tell their stories and then, she said, look “like a 1,000 pound weight has been lifted off their shoulders.
“They walk out the door with a spring in their step. It’s so powerful to see the system work with them and empower them to be able to share the truth.”
Healing Hearts celebrated two years in operation in March. Before the opening, the closest place like Healing Hearts for DeSoto victims was Oxford and Tupelo, an inhibiting distance. Ashley Schachterle, a licensed clinical social worker, saw the problem. Using grants, donations and fundraising, she founded Healing Hearts.
Cunningham was a volunteer at Healing Hearts for four months before joining the paid staff.
“She is excellent, excellent,” Schachterle said of Cunningham. “She’s so good with the kids and she’s so good with the parents. She’s so passionate with the work she does.”
The colorful, child-friendly center puts out the welcome mat for cases reported to the Department of Human Services or law enforcement. Behind a buzz-in, locked door, Healing Hearts staff evaluate the communication level and skill of children.
Referrals range in age from two years, eight months to 17 years old.
After introductions, they are guided past “sleepy bird,” a whimsical painting of a bird with its eyes closed, to the owl room. A professional forensic interviewer talks to the child. Cameras and microphones are inconspicuous.
Across the room, at least one representative of several agencies are watching the interview. Healing Hearts works in cooperation with agencies such as the Department of Human Services, the DeSoto County district attorney’s office and law enforcement.
The setup is designed to provide interviews that will be accepted in court. The forensic interviewer is trained, Cunningham said, to ask open-ended questions.
“Interviews are led by the children,” she said.
Emphasizing the importance of quick forensic interviews, assistant District Attorney Angela Huck said Healing Hearts “has been very, very successful for the community. It’s made a huge improvement in how we can proceed.”
Cunningham’s role includes prevention. She accepts invitations from any site where children gather, to give ageappropriate programs on child abuse.
The program may include a puppet show, in which different types of abuse are defined, for younger children. For older ones, she is more direct with discussion. Often after presentations, a child reports abuse, she said.
“The main thing we want is for them to tell someone,” Cunningham said. “Tell a trusted adult. Keep telling until someone listens to you.”
Awareness is key, Cunningham said. And so she planted pinwheels for April, for people to know the numbers like she knows the faces. They walk out the door with a spring in their step. It’s so powerful to see the system work with them and empower them to be able to share the truth.”
Darlene Cunningham, victims’ advocate at Healing Hearts Child Advocacy Center