Up & Coming Weekly

The State of Our Children: How Our Community is Answering the Need by STEPHANIE CRIDER Being a kid can be a really tough job, even in the best of circumstances, nevermind the heart break and tragedy that so many of them live with every day. When kids are neglected, abused and hurting they don’t have the tools they need or access to the information that can change their lives. That is why it is so important that there are places they can turn to for help and people looking out for their best interests. In this fi rst part of a continuing series, we explore some of our community organizations that are making a difference in children’s lives in Cumberland County. The exploration will continue in our July 21 issue. The Child Advocacy Center deals in some pretty grim situations. In fact, according to their Web site: • Child abuse is a community health epidemic with long-term consequences for the child, the family, the community, and society. • Every 35 seconds a child in America is confi rmed as abused or neglected. • Every six hours a child in America is killed by abuse or neglect. • One in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. • Cumberland County has the third highest number of child abuse cases reported (4,923 in FY 04-05), the second highest number of cases substantiated (1,512 in FY 04-05) and the highest number of homicides from child abuse in NC (5 in 2004). • There are 386 sex offenders in Cumberland County registered with the NC Sex Offender Registry. (Actual number of sex offenders is generally thought to be 3 times higher than registered numbers). While these numbers are discouraging and even daunting, make no mistake, the Child Advocacy Center is there fi ghting for kids and working to protect them when it is hard for the youngsters to understand or even talk about what they have been through — much less defend themselves — and they are just one of many organizations that seek to better the lives of children. “Children that come through here have a pretty good safety net that is put in place for them,” said Roberta Humphries, executive director of the Child Advocacy Center in Fayetteville. “We help to facilitate the beginning stages of healing for that child. We have a forensic interviewer who is trained to conduct those interviews with children in a non- invasive non-threatenting and non-suggestive manner. That makes a big difference for the child.” The Child Advocacy Center, by their own defi nition, “is a child-friendly place where a multidisciplinary team of community professionals join hands to care for abused children. They aim to decrease the overall impact of abuse by reducing further victimization to abused children; by increasing the number of successful prosecutions of perpetrators; by encouraging parents and caregivers to stop abusive and neglectful behaviors; by reducing the long-term costs to society; and by decreasing the number of child abuse victims through awareness and prevention education.” In order to make interviewing children and information gathering more effi cient in child abuse cases, the Child Advocacy Center “brings together representatives from CC Department of Social Service’s Child Protective Services; CC Sheriff’s Offi ce; Fayetteville Police Department; Hope Mills Police Department; Spring Lake Police Department; the medical community via Southern Regional Area Health Education Center, Cape Fear Valley Health Systems and Womack Army Medical Center; CC District Attorney’s Offi ce; Guardian ad Litem; and Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County.” Instead of having to retell/relive their experiences over and over and suffering through endless interviews, more information is gathered in fewer sittings, giving children a faster start on the road to healing, and saving both families and organizations precious time in building cases against those who seek to harm the most vulnerable among us. Helping families and children to deal with abuse is just part of the equation though, education is also key in detecting and preventing abuse in our community. The Child Advocacy Center provides ongoing education to the organizations that partner with them, they review cases weekly, provide Continuing Education opportunities to organizations and professionals in the community and provide child abuse awareness and prevention information to the community. “Often people don’t know or don’t understand the impact of their actions on children, take shaken baby syndrome for example, some people just don’t understand how much trauma that causes,” said Humphries. “Unfortunately, whenever families face stressors, child abuse numbers go up whether it is a deployment or unemployment or who knows what. A lot of times it is just a matter of educating people and giving them the 8 UCW JULY 7-13, 2010 tools they need — like anger management skills that can make a difference.” For more information, to make a donation or to volunteer visit www. childadvocacycenter.com or give them a call at 486-9700. Fayetteville Urban Ministry: Finding Friends by STEPHANIE CRIDER Fayetteville Urban Ministry’s whole purpose is to show God’s compassion for its neighbors. They do this through several programs: Emergency Assistance, Adult Literacy, Find a Friend and the Nehemiah Project. These are all practical programs that change lives for the better — and whether it is through direct services from Fayetteville Urban Ministry or the trickle down effect, the work that these folks do day in and day out, the dedication they show to their cause through out the year has an impact on young lives. The adult literacy program teaches basic reading, writing and math skills to adults who read below a sixth grade level. Volunteer tutors work one on one with the students. The facility has a library, computer lab and a learning room for students and tutors to use. While this particular program is for adults, imagine the benefi ts that a young child receives in having a literate adult in their lives. Everything from bed time to the kind of job the adult can get changes. Ah, home sweet home — but how sweet is it really when rain or pine needles are falling through the roof, or the light fi xtures are falling out of the ceiling or the fl oor has rotted away beneath you? Qualifi ed contractors, volunteers and staff with the Nehemiah Project repair homes for moderate to low income home owners. According to www.fayurbmin. org/programs, last year this program performed repairs worth $120,547! Having a safe place to call home can make all the difference in the lives of youngsters and this program provides that. Food and clothing are pretty basic needs, but sometimes parents are unable to provide this for their families. Fayetteville Urban Ministry provides emergency assistance where clients are able to shop at no cost for things like clothes, linens, and hygiene kits at no cost. Emergency food assistance is also available for families in crisis. The Find a Friend Program is all about helping kids though. It focuses on pairing up youth with mentors and resources to make smart decisions and set them up for successful lives as adults. By helping youngsters to channel their energy constructively, develop a healthy respect for learning, improving social interaction skills and high self esteem Find a Friend helps the court system keep kids in positive, productive lifestyles. “We have been in existence since 1982, so we have turned around a lot of lives,” said Shauna Hopkins, Fayetteville Urban Ministry after school coordinator. “We currently have about 120 youth in the program but we serve almost 300 kids a year and our services are free of charge for the youth enrolled in our program.” According to Hopkins, Find a Friend has four different parts to it. The interpersonal skills part works on things like kids’ social skills, behavioral problems, anger management and peer pressure. “We also have our Beyond program which is building youth opportunities and destinies,” said Hopkins. “That is focused on gang intervention and gang prevention — we target certain areas in the community to help those kids out to stop them from being in a gang.” The one on one mentoring component helps any at risk youth get a mentor like a big brother or big sister. There is also a mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents. “All the programs work together hand in hand to provide wrap around services for the youth we serve,” said Hopkins. “We serve the entire Cumberland County area and we serve ages six through 17 so we are pretty strung out most of the time,” she added with a laugh. Not only does Hopkins get to work for an organization that makes a difference in the community, she builds relationships with the youth that come through the programs — and she loves it. “The kids are the best part of my day,” said Hopkins. “I do it for them. Every time I see them I am reminded why I go thorough all the paper work and the meetings and all that stuff. I have said for many years that children are our best natural resources and we need to nurture them because they are the future they are going to be running the country one day” To fi nd out more about Fayetteville Urban Ministry, make a donation or referral, or to volunteer check out www.fayurbmin.org/ or call 483-5944. WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM

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