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From the Executive Director:
Children rely heavily on the nurture of their two parents to grow, develop and flourish. When the parent –child relationship goes terribly wrong, many more caring adults have to step in to make life “right” for an abused child. Alliance For Children has been developing collaborative teams of CPS investigators, detectives, prosecutors, medical personnel and clinical and forensic staff for the past seventeen years to address the protection and nurture needs of abused children. In 2008, 2,603 children benefited from this collaboration.
One of the saddest realities in the dark world of child abuse is that sometimes a child is so badly injured by abuse that hospitalization is required. If abuse is suspected and an active child abuse investigation is underway, Child Protective Services will often deny both parents access to their injured child. It is difficult to imagine the many feelings a child in such a situation must experience. Sometimes a child will blame himself for his injuries or feel ashamed, thinking that he must be a bad person who deserved the treatment he received. Often a child will be fearful, not only of the strange hospital setting, but also of the future, not knowing what will happen next. In spite of the abuse, a child may miss his parents, wanting desperately to have an adult present, just for him.
Enter the newly formed AFC Kids Crew, working at Cook Children’s. Comprised of community volunteers, recruited, screened and trained by AFC center staff, these caring individuals donate their time to comfort a hurting child. Sometimes a child just wants to be held… a Kids Crew volunteer is there; perhaps a bedtime story is needed…..a Kids Crew volunteer will read; a wagon ride through the hospital corroders is great fun…the Kids Crew volunteer is happy to oblige.
Volunteers say the tangible experience of comforting an innocent child is very rewarding. We can all relate to the stress of being in the hospital, and the caring presence of the Kids Crew volunteer acts as its own medicine for a hurting child. If you would like more information about AFC’s Kids Crew collaboration or to learn how to volunteer, please contact Marilyn Roberts at 817-795-9992.
Nancy Hagan
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