WOMAN’S CLUB DONATES — The Woman’s Club of Steubenville made a donation of various toys and stuffed animals to A Caring Place in Wintersville. Members presented the gifts to those working for the nonprofit organization during their October meeting. Those taking part included, from left, Charlotte Christian, President Susanne Curn-Escobar and A Caring Place lead advocate Taylor Norman. -- Julie Stenger

STEUBENVILLE — Members of the Woman’s Club of Steubenville met for their October meeting at Steeple Chase, with officials welcoming their guest speaker, Taylor Norman, lead child and family advocate of A Caring Place in Wintersville.

Norman explained it is the mission of A Caring Place to be a leading advocate in the healing and prevention of child abuse.

The nonprofit organization provides a safe, comfortable, private and child-friendly environment for child abuse victims and their families.

She informed those in attendance there are three tiers of service the agency provides.

The first is direct services, which include medical exams which are done in-house. This involves interviewing and performing a medical exam at the Canton Road location during any hour of the day or night.

Those who go to the site do not have to talk about what happened to them, she noted, as it is up to the victim to decide what they want to do. No one at the agency pushes anyone to do anything they do not want to do, she added.

The second tier is focused on the multi-disciplinary team. This involves anyone who assists with cases meeting once a month for a roundtable discussion to ensure everything is up to date.

The third tier is to offer training — whether it be in public schools or any entity that wishes to receive information. Topics can include human trafficking, body safety and healthy relationships, Norman stated.

She informed the club the nonprofit is only funded through a grant and donations.

There are four full-time staff members who perform dual roles because it is such a small organization, she said.

Norman explained there are approximately 200 children which A Caring Place sees on average in a given year and who are helped by the agency.

A Caring Place services Brooke, Hancock, Ohio, Harrison and Jefferson counties.

Advocates working for the agency are on call at all times, she continued, noting that a call could come in at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. and those on call will immediately go to the site and do their job.

Club members asked questions of Norman, as to exactly what an advocate does for the child. She responded one of the roles of the advocate is to ensure the victim is in charge.

She elaborated that the advocate is in charge of making sure the victim is in charge and is treated OK, giving the example of the child being in a hospital setting and the individual who is giving the medical exam on the child does not do so if the victim does not wish to have that exam.

People are specifically trained to do this kind of work, Norman told the women.

“You have to make sure it is done the correct way and done right because we are focusing on the child,” she stated. Should the matter go to court, everything has to be done exactly in the correct manner.

“All of our services are free of charge,” she added. “Whether it be the interview or the medical exam.”

She exclaimed once the agency runs out of funding, however, it has to keep reapplying for the grant, as it is the only source of income aside from donations, on which everyone relies.

“We visited every school in the area last year,” Norman stated. “We are trying to get out more into the community so that we can speak to everyone.”

She said that child abuse is a reality. And officials are just thankful to the community for the funding they receive through these donations. “Our funding is much different now and people do not realize how important this is,” she added.

Norman said the agency works with just about everybody in the county, from police to hospitals to government agencies. There is a chain of contact and it is a process, she said, with each case being situational. “There is no handbook as to what we do,” Norman continued.

Club members asked what the procedure is as far as contacting someone if you discover your child has been abused. Norman stated there are various ways people go about reaching out after discovering about the abuse.

A parent’s first instinct is usually to call the police, Norman stated. Given the situation, if there are injuries, a parent will take the child to the hospital.

She said A Caring Place also can be the point of contact if a parent so chooses.

Whatever method people choose, the police will contact the agency and hospitals contact the police.

People are working together for this individual, she said.

Norman stated one in 10 children will be sexually abused prior to their 18th birthday.

She added 25 to 30 percent of children will be abused by someone the caretaker brings into the home.

And almost 90 percent of children are sexually abused by someone that they know.

A Caring Place provides an advocate to offer emotional support, information and referrals. It is their main concern to have the best interest of the child at heart.

Other services include a private room for a trained forensic interviewer to speak to the child and any witnesses of the abuse; an examination room along with a qualified physician for children who have been sexually assaulted; and prevention education, community awareness and professional training regarding child abuse and human trafficking.

Norman concluded her presentation to the club by saying she believes the agency is seeing a majority of these cases happening in the area. She added it is her hope to one day see all of the cases which occur.

Club members thanked Norman for her time and for speaking to them on this important issue. Members presented a donation of several items which were purchased for the agency, including dozens of toys, Barbie dolls, stuffed animals and coloring books.