It shouldn’t hurt to be a child
The Children’s Center in Monett, shown above, served 170 children in 2020. Due to COVID-related shutdowns, reported cases of possible abuse were down from the previous year, but are trending upward again in 2021, says Children’s Center Development Coordinator, Lori Jones.
Shown above, Ashley Thomas (left), Interviewer/Advocate, and Desiree Breidenstein (right), Community Outreach Coordinator for The Children’s Center, remind passing motorists that April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
April 28, 2021
Sheila Harris
The idea that children are physically and sexually abused is so uncomfortable and upsetting that we (myself included) try not to think about it. By pretending it doesn’t happen - at least not here in the area where we live - we hope that in reality it doesn’t happen. Until, that is, we’re confronted with the latest allegation in a news headline. Then, we have to face the glaring possibility that people do abuse children.
Unfortunately, the numbers don’t lie. Child abuse occurs, and it occurs in Barry County.
According to 2020 statistics received from Jeannie Stuart, program manager for Children’s Center of Southwest Missouri, 1,000 children were served by the organization during that year.
The Children’s Center, a not-for-profit child advocacy center, provides victim assistance services to physically and/or sexually abused children from birth through age 17 at no charge to the victims or their families. Professional medical, legal and law enforcement personnel are available through the center to serve children in crisis on a 24-hour, on-call basis.
The Children’s Center first opened its doors with a Joplin facility in 1997. With community support from both Barry and Lawrence Counties, a Monett facility was added in 2001, followed by two more satellite locations in Nevada and Butler in 2004 and 2009.
Jennifer Humphrey, an officer with the Probation and Parole Office in Cassville, becomes passionate when speaking about The Children’s Center. As a previous employee of the Children’s Division of Family Services, she served as an advocate for children who were served at the center. There, intervening in the course of abuse - and advocating for the children involved - was part of her job description: not a task for the faint of heart.
“When my job became difficult emotionally,” Humphrey said, “I asked myself, ‘If I don’t do this, who else will?”
Who indeed?
It takes a special group of volunteers to get down in the trenches with the littlest among us: those who cannot (or dare not) speak for themselves.
Special or not, those volunteers often face emotional difficulties themselves in their line of work, says Lori Jones, Development Coordinator for The Children’s Center.
“While the nature of their work is highly confidential,” Jones said, “after a difficult interview or a tough case, the team often turns to each other for support.”
Forensic investigations, medical exams, advocacy and trauma therapy are services available through the center for both child victims and their non-offending family members. All services are provided by trained professionals in a child-friendly setting.
Physical exams can be performed on site, precluding the need for a hospital visit.
An aspect of the center that Jennifer Humphrey appreciates is its ability to videotape the testimony of victims on site as well.
“This way, kids don’t have to repeat their traumatic testimony multiple times to multiple people,” she said. “They give it once, and it can be used in future court cases, if necessary.”
Of the 1,000 children served by The Children’s Center (in all four of their facilities) in 2020, 865 victims were interviewed. Of the children served, 622 were female and 657 were the victims of sexual abuse; the ages of the victims were spread evenly across the birth to 18+ age range.
The majority of the alleged abusers was a parent of the victim, followed by another person or relative known to the child.
After a decade of service provision, therapists began to see cases where the abused became the abuser, so, in an effort to stop the generational cycle of abuse, they implemented a trauma-focused therapy program in 2016.
Humphrey said she knows the center is serving its purpose when she sees and hears stories of former victims who later create purposeful lives for themselves. She cited one young lady who is now a school teacher as an example.
Because she’s aware of the needs of The Children's Center, Jennifer Humphrey said in the past she organized a drive to provide the items on the wish lists of children served by the center. She felt like it wasn’t enough, though.
This year, she organized a fundraiser in conjunction with the Probation and Parole Office, and the BBQ Station and Emmy’s Lemonade Stand, in Cassville.
On Wednesday, April 28, from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m., a portion of the proceeds from meals purchased at the BBQ Station will be donated to The Children’s Center.
The BBQ Station is located at 900 Main Street, Cassville. They can be reached by telephone at (417) 847-0470.
Emmy’s Lemonade Stand will also set up nearby at the same time. Proceeds from their lemonade sales will be donated to the center.
Although The Children’s Center receives grant funding for many of their services, they count on donations to fill other needs, such as administrative costs and the price of the toys, snacks, drinks and blankets they donate to every child who enters their doors.
Donations may be made directly to The Children’s Center at the following website: https://www.childrens-center.org/donate/.
More information about The Children's Center can be found at www.childrens-center.org.
“We have to be able to look at the problem of child abuse and know it’s real,” Lori Jones said. “We need to view abused and neglected children, not as “those kids,” but as “our kids,” she said.
Sheila Harris
The idea that children are physically and sexually abused is so uncomfortable and upsetting that we (myself included) try not to think about it. By pretending it doesn’t happen - at least not here in the area where we live - we hope that in reality it doesn’t happen. Until, that is, we’re confronted with the latest allegation in a news headline. Then, we have to face the glaring possibility that people do abuse children.
Unfortunately, the numbers don’t lie. Child abuse occurs, and it occurs in Barry County.
According to 2020 statistics received from Jeannie Stuart, program manager for Children’s Center of Southwest Missouri, 1,000 children were served by the organization during that year.
The Children’s Center, a not-for-profit child advocacy center, provides victim assistance services to physically and/or sexually abused children from birth through age 17 at no charge to the victims or their families. Professional medical, legal and law enforcement personnel are available through the center to serve children in crisis on a 24-hour, on-call basis.
The Children’s Center first opened its doors with a Joplin facility in 1997. With community support from both Barry and Lawrence Counties, a Monett facility was added in 2001, followed by two more satellite locations in Nevada and Butler in 2004 and 2009.
Jennifer Humphrey, an officer with the Probation and Parole Office in Cassville, becomes passionate when speaking about The Children’s Center. As a previous employee of the Children’s Division of Family Services, she served as an advocate for children who were served at the center. There, intervening in the course of abuse - and advocating for the children involved - was part of her job description: not a task for the faint of heart.
“When my job became difficult emotionally,” Humphrey said, “I asked myself, ‘If I don’t do this, who else will?”
Who indeed?
It takes a special group of volunteers to get down in the trenches with the littlest among us: those who cannot (or dare not) speak for themselves.
Special or not, those volunteers often face emotional difficulties themselves in their line of work, says Lori Jones, Development Coordinator for The Children’s Center.
“While the nature of their work is highly confidential,” Jones said, “after a difficult interview or a tough case, the team often turns to each other for support.”
Forensic investigations, medical exams, advocacy and trauma therapy are services available through the center for both child victims and their non-offending family members. All services are provided by trained professionals in a child-friendly setting.
Physical exams can be performed on site, precluding the need for a hospital visit.
An aspect of the center that Jennifer Humphrey appreciates is its ability to videotape the testimony of victims on site as well.
“This way, kids don’t have to repeat their traumatic testimony multiple times to multiple people,” she said. “They give it once, and it can be used in future court cases, if necessary.”
Of the 1,000 children served by The Children’s Center (in all four of their facilities) in 2020, 865 victims were interviewed. Of the children served, 622 were female and 657 were the victims of sexual abuse; the ages of the victims were spread evenly across the birth to 18+ age range.
The majority of the alleged abusers was a parent of the victim, followed by another person or relative known to the child.
After a decade of service provision, therapists began to see cases where the abused became the abuser, so, in an effort to stop the generational cycle of abuse, they implemented a trauma-focused therapy program in 2016.
Humphrey said she knows the center is serving its purpose when she sees and hears stories of former victims who later create purposeful lives for themselves. She cited one young lady who is now a school teacher as an example.
Because she’s aware of the needs of The Children's Center, Jennifer Humphrey said in the past she organized a drive to provide the items on the wish lists of children served by the center. She felt like it wasn’t enough, though.
This year, she organized a fundraiser in conjunction with the Probation and Parole Office, and the BBQ Station and Emmy’s Lemonade Stand, in Cassville.
On Wednesday, April 28, from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m., a portion of the proceeds from meals purchased at the BBQ Station will be donated to The Children’s Center.
The BBQ Station is located at 900 Main Street, Cassville. They can be reached by telephone at (417) 847-0470.
Emmy’s Lemonade Stand will also set up nearby at the same time. Proceeds from their lemonade sales will be donated to the center.
Although The Children’s Center receives grant funding for many of their services, they count on donations to fill other needs, such as administrative costs and the price of the toys, snacks, drinks and blankets they donate to every child who enters their doors.
Donations may be made directly to The Children’s Center at the following website: https://www.childrens-center.org/donate/.
More information about The Children's Center can be found at www.childrens-center.org.
“We have to be able to look at the problem of child abuse and know it’s real,” Lori Jones said. “We need to view abused and neglected children, not as “those kids,” but as “our kids,” she said.