The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Mission Kids’ new home
EAST NORRITON»It was a year of milestones for Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center.
In a facility that its administrators say exudes just the right amount of child friendliness for youth of all ages, the organization unveiled its new home at the Norriton Medical Campus, 180 W. Germantown Pike, in early November.
Abbie Newman, Mission Kids’ former executive director Abbie Newman and now its CEO, welcomed a large crowd on “moving
day,” which included state and local officials, among them Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele; Montgomery County Commissioners Valerie Arkoosh, Ken Lawrence and Joe Gale; and state Reps. Marcy Toepel, Todd Stephens, Tim Briggs, Michael Corr and Mary Jo Daly.
Newman kicked off a ribbon-cutting ceremony by reiterating the concept behind Mission Kids.
“Between one and in five and one in 10 children will be sexually abused before the age of 18. In places that do not have a child advocacy center, children need to tell their stories over and over again in places like police stations, social service agencies and district attorneys’ offices. Each time they re-tell their story they are re-traumatized,” she said.
A child advocacy center alters the entire dynamic of that process, Newman pointed out.
“So everybody that comes here watches a specially trained forensic interviewer do an interview so that the child can tell their story in their own words and they are not retraumatized. The whole team watches this interview live in a nearby room on a closed circuit television. It’s one on one with the child, so they feel comfortable in speaking.
“While that’s going on,” Newman added, “we have specially trained family advocates who start their work with nonoffending family members and help these children on the road to healing faster. If the family doesn’t heal the child doesn’t heal.”
Newman noted that since opening in 2009 Mission Kids has served more than 3,600 children in Montgomery County.
“In 2017 we’re going to do close to 600 interviews with abused children,” she said.
Mission Kids board of directors Chair Maripeg Bruder recalled some recent praise that accrediting experts bestowed on the agency.
“They said we have some of the best policies and partnerships that they have seen across the country,” Bruder said, noting Newman’s recent talk at the 15th Annual European Regional Conference on Child Abuse & Neglect in the Netherlands, alongside Montgomery County Judge Risa Vetri Ferman.
“They talked about how our model can be used to help children all over the world. Child abuse does not have any borders. We know that children who do not receive intervention at a CAC like Mission Kids have a higher likelihood of becoming abusers or developing mental health problems,” Bruder said.
“In order to effectively continue our battle against child abuse, both inside and outside Montgomery County, we need to strengthen our senior management team to assure efficiency and excellent operations for the children and the families that we serve in Montgomery County while we lead the fight against child abuse outside Montgomery County.”
With that Bruder announced the promotion of Newman to CEO, a position which will expand Mission Kids’ scope beyond Montgomery County while allowing her to lead the effort in “building state and national partnerships and push for legislation at all levels that will support child abuse victims.”
Incoming Executive Director Leslie Slingsby, former Mission Kids associate director who will now handle day-to-day operations, detailed the highlights of the new space.
“We have doubled out square footage,” Slingsby said, acknowledging the “hardworking” officers, detectives law enforcement and social service agencies that work “on behalf of the children of Montgomery county.
The 12- to 18-year-olds told us they would like to feel more grown up,” Slingsby said by way of explaining the waiting room décor.
“We have two private family advocacy center rooms for the families who really need the help and support when they get here after there’s been a suspicion or report of child abuse. We now have three forensic interview rooms and additional office space. We’re so excited about the opportunities this space provides.”