This week’s guest: Cass Burkett, executive director and forensic interviewer for Western PA Cares for Kids.
A Child Advocacy Center is where children who have said they were either physically or sexually abused or children who were witnesses to violent crime, come and are interviewed once by a trained forensic interviewer with nationally accredited training, while the investigative team ( law enforcement, prosecution, child protection, mental health personnel, medical personnel, victim/witness advocates, probation officers etc.) watch the interview on a monitor eliminating the need for each member of the team to do a separate interview with the child. This helps to lessen the trauma a child experiences by eliminating the repetitive interviews so that the child isn’t reliving the experience over and over again.
The investigative team works together making team decisions about the investigation, treatment, management, and prosecution of child abuse cases. The facility is designed to be child friendly to help the child feel more at ease.
Referrals for interviews are made through either the police or child protective services.
