Agenda - 01-22-2015 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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il 1 law enforcement agencies, and representatives from UNC Hospitals, the Guardian ad Litem 2 Program, the department of Juvenile Justice, and Family Violence and Rape Crisis Services. 3 We review every open child sexual abuse case every month, from the time of the initial report 4 until the case is resolved. Case reviews allow us to make sure that, from the very beginning, 5 information is shared freely among individuals and agencies involved in investigating child 6 sexual abuse cases and providing services for abused children and their families. Chatham 7 County has a record of every child sexual abuse case reported since 2001, including 8 investigation and prosecution outcomes. 9 10 In 2000, Chatham County Board of Commissioners created my position, Child Victim Services 11 Coordinator, out of concern that child sexual abuse investigations were being poorly 12 coordinated between the Department of Social Services and our county's three law 13 enforcement agencies. Social workers and law enforcement officers were conducting separate 14 investigations, resulting in children being interviewed about their victimization multiple times by 15 multiple individuals from multiple agencies. Already- victimized children were being further 16 traumatized by the repeated interviews; telling a complete stranger in great and agonizing detail 17 how someone who was supposed to protect you instead sexually assaulted you is not an easy 18 thing for anyone, let alone a child. Having to do that three or four times with three or four 19 different people, is torturous. Additionally, multiple interviews invariably result in slight 20 discrepancies with each retelling of the abusive event, making the difficult job of the prosecutor 21 even more difficult, as defense attorneys are apt to ignore the overwhelming consistency of 22 multiple accounts to jump on inconsequential variations of minute details. Streamlining the 23 process through multidisciplinary coordination successfully addresses these issues, leading to 24 better outcomes for children and greater success in prosecuting sex offenders. 25 26 I ask the Orange County Board of Commissioners to consider creating a similar county- funded 27 position in Orange County to improve multidisciplinary coordination among those professionals 28 entrusted with investigating sex crimes against children and providing services for these very 29 vulnerable children. 30 31 Thank you. 32 33 Sarah Furman read from the following prepared statement: 34 Hello. My name is Sarah Furman. I am a Crisis Counselor with the Chapel Hill Police 35 Department and member of the newly established Orange County Multidisciplinary Team. From 36 here on, Multidisciplinary Team will be referred as MDT. I am here to speak on the behalf of the 37 Orange County team about the critical need for a MDT Coordinator position in Orange County. 38 39 You heard from Carmen on some of the benefits of having a well - established MDT, including 40 reduction in trauma and re- victimization, better outcomes for children, and improved 41 prosecutions. Let us consider a few others that our team has identified since our first meeting in 42 May 2014. These include: 43 • Reduction in duplication of services and fragmentation in the service delivery process; 44 • Efficient, timely, and precise investigations; 45 • Support and enhancement of each individual agency's efforts; 46 • Identifying systemic gaps and limitations; 47 • Optimizing the health and well -being of victims, families, and providers. 48 What a real deficit it has been for our community to not have such a service since the children's 49 advocacy movement began in the 80s. 50