1. Pursuing Justice, Providing Hope, Promoting Healing

2. When a child is severely mistreated, Robin’s Nest and partner agencies
work together to help the child.
1051 Harper Avenue

3. These partners work with Robin’s Nest
Organizational Collaboration Chart
for Multi-Disciplinary Response to Child Abuse
Caldwell County Schools
DSS & Child Protective Services
25th Judicial District Attorney's Office
Law
Enforcement
Mental Health Entities
Medical Evaluation
Robin's Nest
Executive Director +
Multi-Disciplinary Team
Representing Partners
providing
Forensic Interviews
Medical Exams
Victim Advocacy
Counseling Connections
These partners work with Robin’s Nest
To see that an abused child receives help.

4. Before, the child retold to many . Now, the child talks to 2 or 3.
Child Abuse Investigation Process Without a Children’s Advocacy Center With a Children's Advocacy Center
Before Robin’s Nest
With Robin’s Nest
Before, the child retold to many . Now, the child talks to 2 or 3.

5. Services Provided at Robin’s Nest
Support for Child and Family
Forensic Interviews
Medical Evaluations
Counseling – Trauma Focused
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
All interviewers, medical examiners, and
counselors are trained according to best practices.

6. To decrease trauma and promote healing....
Advocacy/Support
Comprehensive support network for children and non-offending family members: “point of entry” specialists
Child advocate coordinates services, assists in access to community resources, and provides crisis intervention and support at all stages of investigation and prosecution.
Caregivers receive information to guide them through the abuse situation and help from the Child Advocate to make connections to agencies that also help.
Robin’s Nest is a child and
family – friendly place.
Everyone’s Goal:
To decrease trauma and promote healing....

7. Forensic Interviews
Within a child-friendly environment, trained professionals, in a one-to-one discussion, talk with children in a developmentally appropriate, non-threatening, non-suggestive manner, allowing them to tell in their own words the events of the abuse. The investigative team observes the interview in a separate room.

8. Medical Evaluations
The purpose of a medical evaluation in suspected child abuse is threefold:
Primarily, to help ensure the health, safety, and well-being of the child;
to diagnose, document, and address medical conditions resulting from abuse; and
to differentiate medical findings indicative of abuse from those which may be explained by other medical conditions.
The Medical Specialist trained in pediatric best practices comes to Robin’s Nest to perform the evaluation in the child-friendly environment, decreasing trauma for the child.

9. Mental Health Treatment
Counseling helps children overcome the long-term social, emotional, and developmental symptoms of trauma that can adversely affect their lives.
Research demonstrates that 80% of children, ages 3 to 18, that complete trauma-focused therapy sessions make obvious improvement in their ability to live life normally,
feeling safe again. 
Our goal is to graduate every child who enters therapy at Robin’s Nest from a full series of Trauma-Focused therapy sessions.

10. How Prevalent is Child Sexual Abuse?
1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.
Only 1 in 10 ever report their abuse.
The average age of the child abused is 9.
90% of those abused know their offender. It is someone their family knows and trusts.
There are more than 42 million adult survivors of child sexual abuse in the U.S. today.
Source: Darkness to Light
Abuse can happen to anyone,
regardless of where you live
or how safe your neighborhood feels!

11. Robin’s Nest Data
From 2011-late 2018
1600+
1,103
children have received services at Robin’s Nest 9
Average Age of Children Served locally
Females % Males %
205
have completed Trauma Focused Therapy

12. Think of the data this way: Caldwell County Children
1,600
Caldwell County Children
That’s
80 average size classrooms!
Or 32 school buses
filled to capacity!
The problem is real;
The need is great.

13. THE FACE OF ABUSE IN CALDWELL COUNTY
Young People Often Face Abuse such as-
Permanent physical damage
Repeated sexual assaults
Pregnancies
Prostitution
Bruises, abrasions, breaks and burns
Forced illegal drug intake
Witnessing life-threatening domestic violence

14. Common CONSEQUENCES for child victims
Depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety (80-90%)
Suicidal thoughts / attempts (20-30%)
Drug and alcohol dependence (70-80%)
Difficulty forming long term relationships
Eating Disorders
Sexual risk taking that leads to teen pregnancy (60%)
Prostitution (more than 90% of child prostitutes have been sexually abused)
Delinquency

15. How Does Abuse Show Up in Schools?
Lower performance on tests when compared to same-age, non-sexually abused cohorts
Increased high school absentee rates
More grade retention
Increased need for special education services
Difficulty adapting to school
Significant increase in the chance of dropping out of school
Risky behaviors

16. The Wrapped Bear by a 6-year-old male
A badly abused first grader sat silent for weeks in therapy. One day while playing,
he took a white teddy bear and began to
wrap it around and around with blue
tape, talking out loud as he did . . .
“I’m covering your eyes so you can’t
find me I’m covering your mouth
so you can’t talk to me . . .
I’m taping your arms down so you can’t grab me I’m taping your legs together so you can’t catch me ever again.”
Then he hid the blue bear under books
in a basket on the floor and said,
“He can’t hurt me anymore.”

17. It’s everyone’s responsibility to protect
children and hold those who hurt them accountable.

18. Change for Children provides 1/3 of this category! THANK YOU!
No family is ever charged for services received at Robin’s Nest.
How is Robin’s Nest able to provide services
to the children and non-offending caregivers at no cost?
Change for Children provides
1/3 of this category!
THANK YOU!