Cuts Have Hurt Child Service Group

Aftereffects of the Orange County bankruptcy persist a year and a half later, and for some, the consequences are dire.

One such organization is Child Abuse Services Team (CAST), a program whose mission is to decrease the trauma that sexually abused children experience during examinations, interviews and court appearances. Its staff consists of a team of professionals including a deputy district attorney, social workers, therapists, child interview specialists, a nurse practitioner and volunteer child advocates.

However, in the aftermath of the bankruptcy, the position of the full-time deputy district attorney was eliminated almost immediately and replaced with an on-call one. This has drastically cut into the service CAST is able to provide.

It is estimated that sexually abused children are subjected to 15 to 25 interviews by numerous professionals during the investigation phase.

CAST prevents this by assembling and mobilizing its team along with the police and detectives assigned to a case. Such collaboration reduces by an average of almost six the number of interviews the child experiences, which is significant in reducing the trauma for the child.

Ranging in age from babies to young adults, many of these children hail from dysfunctional homes--homes where their own family members are the perpetrators. They add another dehumanizing experience to their saga of horrors by being revealed as sexual abuse victims to virtual strangers.

CAST helps reduce the trauma by providing a child-friendly environment in which children can play, non-offending parents can receive crisis intervention and the children can become less fearful if called to testify in court.

Before the bankruptcy, the deputy district attorney was assigned to administer the interviews for each case. Logistic problems have arisen.

Children have to deal with telling their sad stories too often in frightening environments such as hospital corridors, police interrogation areas, on street corners or in school principals’ offices.

For the sake of traumatized children, the Board of Supervisors ought to provide funding to reinstate the full-time staff position.