A life committed to Child Advocacy

 Dr Katherine Grimm is an expert that comes with over 40 years of service in Child Protective Services. She is a certified pediatrician with training from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and John Hopkins Hospital that carries with her  a well developed relationship with these facilities, and now stands as the director of the Manhattan Child Advocacy Center also called The New York Center for Children.

Dr Grimm was very happy to have us and is always pleased to share her wealth of knowledge with students. We were reminded of our position as mandated reporters in cases of child abuse and therefore the reiterated need for careful and detail history taking along with physical examination of the pediatric population.

The majority of the cases at this facility are for emotional/ psychological needs. Dr Grimm and her team have done a stellar job in providing a child-friendly facility to meet these needs. There are play rooms with different themes, an underwater themed examination room and a kitchen that is frequently used as a therapeutic tool. Children can be more opened and comfortable if they get lost in fun activities. If you’re lucky maybe you would visit on a Cookie baking day. :) 

The NY Center for Children

First Stop- Diane Abbey Law Center for Children and Families

We met Genevieve Wachtell, the Associate Director of the Diane Abbey Law Center for Children and Families.
This Center provides legal assistance to children and families in need. At the same time, the Center prepares students for the ethical practice of family law. Genevieve is proud that while many of the students she first encounters are more interested in corporate law, once exposed to the curriculum that is offered through this family law program, students see the contribution they can have on families and many go on to enter the family law field.

Mrs. Wachtell gave a very comprehensive overview of how the family court system is designed: Who represents the respondent (accused guardian), the child, Administration for Children's Services' (ACS) role, where social workers come in and the differences between Family and Criminal court.
 She was willing to discuss a myriad of topics that involve the rights of children and families. We discussed the different social programs that act as safety nets such as Head Start and those that are prescribed by the court system, for example, anger management.
Mrs. Wachtell is an insightful teacher and it is therefore clear why so many of her students follow her lead. She also started a blog (justfamilies.org) where Diane Abbey faculty, students and associates list and write blogs relevant to children, families and the law.

Off to meet the advocates.....

Children Advocacy in Brooklyn has developed into an intricate network of various specialists working together passionately to reduce the incidence and effects of child abuse.

The team included but was not limited to:

• Doctors
• Nurses
• Social Workers
• Child advocacy specialists
• Lawyers
• Police (SVU)

Organising the terminologies.... What means what?

Child Advocacy: 
Child advocacy refers to a range of individuals, professionals and advocacy organizations who promote the optimal development of children. An individual or organization engaging in advocacy typically seeks to protect children's rights which may be abridged or abused in a number of areas.

Abuse:
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of children. In the United States, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child. Child abuse can occur in a child's home, or in the organizations, schools or communities the child interacts with. There are four major categories of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, psychological/emotional abuse, and child sexual abuse.

Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which a perpetrator is responsible to provide care for a victim who is unable to care for himself or herself, but fails to provide adequate care.
Neglect may include the failure to provide sufficient supervision, nourishment, or medical care, or the failure to fulfill other needs for which the victim is helpless to provide for himself or herself.

Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.


Psychological abuse, also referred to as emotional abuse or mental abuse, is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Such abuse is often associated with situations of power imbalance, such as domestic violence, bullying, child abuse and in the workplace.

Child sexual abuse is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include asking or pressuring a child to engage in sexual activities (regardless of the outcome), indecent exposure of the genitals to a child, physical sexual contact with a child, or using a child to produce child pornography.


(All definitions were taken from wikipedia)

The introduction of Child Advocacy Laws - The Mary Ellen Wilson Story

My father and mother are both dead. I don’t know how old I am. I have no recollection of a time when I did not live with the Connollys. Mamma has been in the habit of whipping and beating me almost every day. She used to whip me with a twisted whip—a raw hide. The whip always left a black and blue mark on my body. I have now the black and blue marks on my head which were made by mamma, and also a cut on the left side of my forehead which was made by a pair of scissors. She struck me with the scissors and cut me; I have no recollection of ever having been kissed by any one—have never been kissed by mamma. I have never been taken on my mamma's lap and caressed or petted. I never dared to speak to anybody, because if I did I would get whipped. I do not know for what I was whipped—mamma never said anything to me when she whipped me. I do not want to go back to live with mamma, because she beats me so.

This was the testimony of Mary Ellen Wilson who in the 1800s was living with her foster parents who continually abused her. As a result of the neighbour’s interest, a methodist missionary worker, Ms Wheeler, began investigating the issue and the ways for it to be handled legally so that little Mary would be protected. Ms Wheeler began researching legal options to redress and protect the young girl. After finding that there was no particular law that the local authorities were willing to act upon, Wheeler turned to a local advocate for the animal humane movement and the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Henry Bergh. With the help of neighbour's testimony and the laws against animal cruelty, Wheeler and Bergh successfully removed Mary Ellen from her foster home and took the foster mom to trial. 

This case prompted the beginning of what we have come to call the Child Advocacy laws. These laws now serve to protect children like Mary Wilson whose lives sometimes depend on them.

A not-so-good introduction to the cases.

The fax buzzed signaling our attention. Dr Ajl read the content and passed it on. It was an account from a father that was in police custody and it read something like this.....

"I woke up my baby son this morning at 9am to give him his bottle. At 10am I was finished feeding him. At 11am I got him ready for his baby bath. I had him in the the tub when I realized that I did not have his towel. I left for just 2 minutes to get his towel. In the hall I saw my brother in his bedroom and stop just for a short while. When I got back to the bathroom, I noticed the water had changed. I grabbed my son out and called the nurse that lives upstairs. She told me to do CPR and I did. My son started coughing and breathing again. I called 911 and when the police came they arrested me"

At this point I was extremely suspicious as to what was really going on. First, why would you leave a baby in a bath tub with water to go get a towel?.... Secondly, knowing your baby is in a tub of water, why are you stopping to look at your brother?.... And finally, why would a certified nurse ask you to perform CPR if she is just upstairs? Nothing was adding up. But the equation became more unbalanced as the pictures of the baby followed...

From the pictures, I estimate the baby to be about 2 years old. He was lying in a Burn unit all wrapped up in bandages excluding his face, elbows to finger tips and genitalia. This child had been in very hot water but did not burn his hands??????? Obviously there was more to this story.
Sadly though, this baby was on life support and had a bad prognosis hanging over him. The chances of survival was unlikely...
Up to the time of this blog, we had no knowledge as to the outcome of this case.

It all begins... Day 1

On day 1, the outline of the  elective was given to us by Dr Stephen Ajl along with previous documentary pieces from our predecessors. Account after account, we read with one thing already etched in our minds....'Child abuse is very real and there were definitely going to be some emotional bumps ahead of us' and as if to authenticate the very thought... the first case came in.