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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2007
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Program Specialist-Public Information
Rosemary Hinkle 215-887-4954
Abington Police Announce Child Intervention Collaborative
Program
Recognizing that children who witness abuse and violence are more
likely to perform poorly in school, engage in juvenile delinquency,
and become abusers themselves, Abington Police Chief William J.
Kelly will announce at a press conference Wednesday, October 24,
at 1:00 p.m. at the Abington Township Building Board Room, 1176
Old York Road, Abington, a new collaborative project being undertaken
by the Abington Township Police Department, the Women's Center of
Montgomery County, and the Victim Services Center of Montgomery
County, Inc.
As a key and initial part of this innovative program, Abington
Police officers will now view children as secondary victims when
they find them at the scene of a domestic violence dispute. They
will note on their reports the names and ages of the children who
witnessed domestic abuse and /or violence and obtain written permission
from a parent or guardian to refer the children for counseling.
This information will be passed to the Women's Center which runs
a well-established referral system for victims of violence and abuse.
The Center will continue to address adult needs but will pass the
children's information to the Victim Services Center's Child Abuse
& Family Counseling Program. Cases in which there is a suspicion
of direct abuse to the child will continue to be referred to the
Office of Children & Youth.
This program recognizes that children who witness domestic violence
and abuse, particularly at home, can experience changes in their
brains and become far more inclined to abuse others in their life.
In particular if the situation is not addressed through counseling,
they may experience developmental delays, cognitive or language
problems, poor academic performance, difficulty with peer interaction,
and stress related physical ailments such as headaches, ulcers,
rashes.
Child abuse experts indicate that children in homes where domestic
violence takes place are: physically and/or emotionally neglected
at a rate much higher than the national average, more likely to
sustain serious injuries while trying to protect their threatened
mother or siblings, and more susceptible to injury if they are being
held by their mother when the batterer strikes.
This new project, the first of its kind in both the region and
the state, will use coordinated services to meet the needs of all
who are affected by an abusive or violent situation. Chief Kelly
explains, "In the past, our officers did not document children
at the scene of a disturbance unless they were viable witnesses
in the prosecution of the case. Children were viewed only as secondary
victims if they were in physical danger. Now, we recognize the long-term,
damaging effects that can play out in their lives after witnessing
abuse and/or violence in their homes, and we are taking action to
help them heal and prevent them from engaging in future crime and
violence."
This project is strongly endorsed by the Office of the District
Attorney for Montgomery County that has been involved in child advocacy
for some time. In a sense, this project can be considered a natural
outgrowth of their efforts on behalf of young victims and witnesses.
The seed for this program came from Abington's Detective/Sergeant
Michael Gallagher. He discovered an article in the San Francisco
Examiner, headlined "Helping Heal Young Minds after a Crisis."
It described a four-year-old boy who was hitting and biting friends
and erupting in tantrums at the least frustration. At age three,
he had witnesses his mother defending herself with a knife against
an abusive father. The mother had never spoken about the situation,
thinking the child would not remember. But he did, and his memories
were coming out in bad dreams and negative behaviors which were
finally being dealt with in counseling.
Det./Sgt. Gallagher contacted the San Francisco District Attorney
and gathered information on how the police were documenting children
at the scene of disturbances. He recommended the program for consideration
in Abington, noting, "I believe this is a great crime prevention
program with measures of success that will be seen for years to
come."
This collaborative project will provide a number of important educational
supports and resources, including training for Abington Police officers
to increase awareness of the impact of domestic violence on children
and families as well as services available, support group sessions
for victims of domestic violence on the correlation between domestic
violence and child abuse, and resources for the community with the
goal of increasing community awareness and sensitivity about domestic
violence and its link to child abuse.
"The introduction of this new collaborative effort is most
timely," notes Chief Kelly, "as October is Domestic Violence
Awareness Month. We are finalizing policies and procedures, and
look forward to this program being up and running soon." Chief
Kelly goes on to point out that this is a pilot project. It is hoped
that as it proves successful, it will be replicated throughout the
county, region, and beyond.
Contacts for Additional Information:
Det./Sgt. Mike Gallagher 267-536-1104
Deputy Chief John Livingood 267-536-1113
Mary Onama, MSW, Executive Director, Victim Services Center 610-277-0932
ext. 233
Maria Macaluso, Women's Center 215-635-7346
First Assistant DA Risa Ferman who has a strong interest in doing
everything possible to protect children and will be at the press
conference 610-278-3098
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