MEASURE CREATING CHILD ADVOCACY CENTERS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED BY COMMITTEE
MEASURE CREATING CHILD ADVOCACY CENTERS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED BY COMMITTEE
Measure will simplify process for reporting child sexual abuse and helping victims
AUGUSTA— Senator Craven’s (D-Lewiston) bill to create child advocacy centers for sexually abused children across Maine received a unanimous “ought to pass” vote from the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee today. During the public hearing, legislators, law enforcement, child advocates and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services testified in support of the measure.
“I am thrilled that we had a unanimous vote from the Committee,” said Senator Craven, Who serves as Senate Chair of the Committee. “It is wonderful that the whole committee recognizes the importance of these centers.”
This bill creates nine multi-disciplinary centers throughout the state to provide sexually abused children with a single place where they can report the crime, be examined by medical personnel and get access to any counseling or therapy they need to help them recover from their abuse. There are already two child advocacy centers operating in the state, one in Lewiston and one in Waterville. The bill uses them as models for other centers that would open around the state.
“Children who receive services at our center are our primary focus,” said Keri Myrick of the Androscoggin Sexual Assault center in Lewiston. “We provide support for them throughout the investigation and the judicial process.”
Senator Colleen Lachowicz (D-Waterville), a social worker and a member of the Health and Human Services Committee is a sponsor of the bill. She is also a member of the board of the Waterville center. “These centers will help improve the healing process for victims and their families,” said Senator Lachowicz. “It is vital that children are treated with special care and awareness of their needs in the wake of such a traumatic experience.”
“Children that have been sexually abused face many challenges,” Senator Craven said. “They have a hard enough time with their abuse without facing additional challenges. Currently, children often have to go to several different places, and go through the details of their abuse over and over again. This is demoralizing, slows their healing process and can even discourage them from reporting the abuse in the first place.”
These centers have been shown to help prosecute the crimes as well.
Kennebec County District Attorney Meaghan Maloney said “I have seen first hand how the child advocacy center in Waterville has changed everything. Children are interviewed once and only once by a trained professional. This professional interview often results in the defendant pleading guilty, preventing the terrifying situation of a child walking into court and having to tell a room full of strangers about the most horrible thing that ever happened in his or her life.”
The bill LD 1334, An Act to Create Child Advocacy Centers in Maine, goes on to the Senate and House for further votes.
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