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Child protection in NH has come a long way

By Staff | Apr 12, 2015

While recognizing Child Abuse Prevention Month, we in New Hampshire can rest assured that our state has the appropriate statutes and that law enforcement is committed to doing what it can to prevent child abuse. Law enforcement can only bring to justice those who violate the law. As with all attempts to modify destructive behavior, it takes cultural transformation to change actual behavior.

The county attorney’s offices prosecute felonies in the Superior Courts. We see the most serious acts of child abuse, like sexual assaults and serious physical injuries. Our job as prosecutors is to seek punishment for offenders, so that they stop abusing.

A victim who recently reported a sexual assault from the 1970’s revealed how far we have come in 30 years. Prior statutes categorized some highly offensive behavior as only a misdemeanor. Therefore, some children in the 1970’s (and earlier) needed to report an assault while still a child in order for their abuser to receive even a minor punishment. In the 1980’s the legislature changed the laws so that contact for a sexual purpose with a child is a felony. Lawmakers also lengthened the statute of limitations covering the time in which a victim could report an incident. These improvements precipitated advancements in law enforcement methods.

The state also began to study its own child protection system and react to what it learned. The state’s first Child Advocacy Center opened in Rockingham County in January 2000. Rockingham’s success led to the effort to develop a statewide system of CACs. Hillsborough County’s CAC opened in 2004. The generosity of Hillsborough County entrepreneurs and business people kept the center strong financially. Cheshire and Belknap counties were not as fortunate. Their lack of private sector financial support necessitated combining them with the Hillsborough County CAC to create today’s Granite State Children’s Alliance.

Today the Hillsborough CAC is part of the Granite State Children’s Alliance, wh ich serves a critical role in prosecuting cases in which a child is either a victim or a witness. There are many people within the justice system who need to hear from a child victim or witness, and ask questions of the child. The questions must be asked in a manner that allows only the facts from the child to influence the child’s answers. In the 1980’s and 1990’s a child might speak to several investigators representing different disciplines, but putting a child through several interviews and interviewers was not optimal, for several reasons.

Today the process – though the services of the CAC – is more efficient, results in more reliable statements and is easier on the victim. That makes them better witnesses for the prosecution. When an allegation surfaces in which a child has eyewitness testimony to give, police know to call the CAC, which then alerts the various offices within the justice system to send someone to the CAC interview.

The child is interviewed by a trained specialist. The child and specialist are alone in a room, while others with a legal interest in the case gather in another room to listen and watch the interview by video. If the team wants the interviewer to ask something, they communicate through the interviewer’s earpiece without disturbing the rapport with the child. As a result, the child tells the facts once and representatives of each discipline get to hear it firsthand.

Law enforcement is important in stopping individual offenders from hurting more victims. However, more important in securing a safe environment for children are the adults in a child’s life.

Security for a child starts with the parent. “You can help protect your children from sexual abuse by being active in their lives and teaching them safety skills,” according to the website Childwelfare.gov. There are many ways in which a parent can be active in a child’s life, and they all share one thing in common: You know what is going on. If you are physically with your child, then you know who else is there, what they are doing and you can use adult judgment. If you check on the people and organizations with whom you leave your children, you can know their schedules, their policies and their actual practices regarding children never being alone with one adult.

Parents and other caregivers should be alert to what they can do to end abuse one safe child at a time. However, until that ideal world happens, I am confident we can develop strong cases that convict abusers and put them in prison.

Dennis Hogan is the Hillsborough County Attorney. The Granite State Children’s Alliance depends on the generosity of New Hampshire’s citizens. If you would like to contribute you can find out how by visiting cac-nh.org.

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