Georgia Center for Child Advocacy: Championing the Needs of Sexually and Physically Abused Children

Carol: Hi, at MIS Solutions, we have a long history of working with organizations that serve children. In fact, one of our missions is to serve 3,000 children by the year 2030. I’m Carol White. I’m in the marketing department here, and I’m very excited to introduce you to Sheila Ryan, the CEO of the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy. Sheila, thank you for being with us today.

Sheila: Thank you so much for inviting me here today. I’m so excited to share a little bit about what the Georgia Center does and how what we do helps your goal of serving 3,000 children. And so thank you so much for all that you do to help make sure that all of our technology is up and running so that as we serve these kids, we have all the right technology and can do our work. But then also inviting me here today to share everything that we’re doing with, you know, with a larger audience.

Carol: Awesome. So let’s talk about your work with GCCA. How long has it been around and what exactly is your mission?

Sheila: Yeah, the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy was founded 37 years ago and our sole purpose is to provide services for children who’ve been sexually abused, physically abused, who’ve been trafficked, or who’ve witnessed violence.

And we are here to advocate for the, we’ll go into a little bit more about like what that really means. But, we are here, you know, solely to work with those children and then also support their caregivers and family members around them.

Carol: And when you say the children, what age groups do you serve?

Sheila: Yeah. So we work with children who are between the ages of three and 18 and with you know, with what we do, we help work with law enforcement and with child protective services or DFACs to, provide what is called a forensic interview. Children that are below the age of three generally don’t have the verbal skills that’s needed. And then when a child does, turns 18, then they become part of the adult system.

Carol: Okay, so you’ve been able to help children who’ve experienced significant trauma during your tenure with GCCA. Without getting into any specific details about any one case, can you just share with us how and under what circumstances your organization would get involved with a child who has been abused?

Sheila: Sure, generally, if a child makes a disclosure of abuse or suspected abuse, that, and, and they disclose to, say, a teacher, then that teacher’s then going to report that potential crime. And then law enforcement and child protective services would then get involved. They would then coordinate with the Georgia Center and we would bring that child and caregiver in so that we can provide the forensic interview. It’s kind of like that first step in the process.

Carol: Okay. And so how many children does GCCA serve in a year?

Sheila: So we will typically serve 900-plus children every single year, through all of our different services. And then when you start thinking about not only the child that comes in, but then siblings and family members that we serve as well, we’re, you know, up 1,200, 1,300 individuals every year.

Carol: It’s a significant number. Yes, it is. Okay, so walk me through the process. Once you’re made aware of a child who’s been a victim of abuse, what happens then?

Sheila: Sure. So, for instance, when the child disclosed to the teacher and then teacher reported it and then that child comes in for an interview we’re going to conduct what’s known as a forensic interview and we are allowing the child to have a conversation with a very highly trained forensic interviewer who knows how to have that conversation with the child in a very trauma-informed way, and then also asking a lot of non-leading questions because when that child comes in for the interview, that then becomes a piece of evidence so that if and when the case goes to trial, we have a very solid piece of evidence-based practice interview that is part of that evidence.

As a child is being interviewed, we are going to be meeting with the caregiver. One of our family advocates will meet with the caregiver to understand the home environment, the situation, what other needs that family might have. We will also, the advocate will also walk the caregiver parent through, what is a forensic interview? What’s the process? Like when they leave the Georgia Center, like what will happen? What’s that legal process? Who all gets involved? We will also make sure that if there’s any medical care, we can, you know, work with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to, get that child in for any kind of medical treatment.

We will do an assessment to see if therapy is appropriate. We will understand if, if the alleged perpetrator is someone that is within the household, we’re going to make sure that that caregiver and child siblings have a safe place to go to when they leave the Georgia Center. It’s all about just really surrounding that family with everything that they need to be safe and protected.

If therapy is right, then one of our therapy therapists will meet with that child and that caregiver. We love it when they can have that first interaction the day of that interview so that they know one of our therapists and we provide all of that therapy on site. IWe have several different modalities of treatment, but they’re all evidence-based therapies because we want to make sure that children receive the right type of therapy for the trauma that they’re experiencing or they have experienced. And, you know, with that, we’re able to really walk that healing journey with the child and with the family.

Carol: We had talked earlier about these forensic interviews that your organization conducts with the children. And I think it’s important to share, you told me that these interviews are done once, and what is the reasoning behind that?

Sheila: Right. So we provide the interview, really to support the child and we only want to talk to the child or do one interview. Prior to Child Advocacy Centers being in place, you know, say 40 years ago, a child might be interviewed up to a dozen times. So that child may have to talk to, you know, maybe their teacher and then maybe the medical provider or doctor. They may then have to talk to a judge.

They may then also have to talk to law enforcement. You know, they may talk to over a period of several years, tell that story time and time again. Every time they’re telling that story, they are reliving that trauma. And Child Advocacy Centers literally came about because a young girl said, why do I have to tell my story multiple times?

Can’t you all get together and talk? And because of that, light bulbs went off and people said, yes, we’re going to set up a space specific for children. They can come in, tell their story one time, and then we can really work with them on healing that past trauma. So that’s really kind of like the backstory behind why Child Advocacy Centers came into being.

Carol: And tell me about the teddy bears. I’ve seen on your website. There’s a, there’s a wall, a big wall of teddy bears. Tell me what that’s all about.

Sheila: Yes, so we have a couple of really special places within the Child Advocacy Centers. One is our wall of teddy bears and after each child finishes their interview, they get to go to the back into our, you know, our teddy bear wall and choose a stuffed animal.

And it’s really, it’s a comfort item, but we really just want to convey to those kids that, you know, we are here to support them. and you would be surprised, even some of the older kids, you know, 16-year-old that plays football, like he will go back there and he’ll be like, Oh, I’m going to just take this for my sister.

And, you know, next thing you know, he’s out there in the lobby and he’s got that teddy bear. It’s a comfort item. And then we also have, within those spaces, rock gardens that, as kids graduate from therapy, they paint a rock of inspiration to leave behind to other kids coming through our space, because we want kids to know that not only are we here for them, but they didn’t do, they didn’t do anything to cause whatever has happened. They are not at fault. Other kids have been here before them. And we have worked with those kids and those families on that healing journey. And there is laughter. There is hope. There are smiles. And we just want kids to know, while they may first come in to the Georgia Center at a very low point in their lives, there’s a lot of hope and healing that we can work with them.

Carol: Now do you work with children all across Georgia?

Sheila: We provide direct services to children in Fulton and DeKalb counties. We have several statewide programs, where we work with adults to train them in preventing child sexual abuse. so we have a number of programs that work with professionals across the state, but direct services working with those kids and families.

We are specifically for Fulton and DeKalb County. There are child advocacy centers across the state of Georgia that also work within, you know, their local communities. And the reason for that is, as I mentioned earlier, our interview is a piece of evidence. And so we’re going to work closely with law enforcement in that community and the district attorney’s office in that community. So it’s really helpful to conduct the interview in the county where it might go to trial.

Carol: So you had shared some, statistics with me and I did a little bit of research and I saw where the FBI named Atlanta as one of the 14 cities with the highest rate of child sex trafficking. given this tremendous uptick and abuse in our area, have your educational programs played a part in generating awareness around this growing crisis?

Sheila: We do have a number of training programs and one of them is, to train adults in recognizing the signs of sex trafficking, to know some of the risk factors, to know what to do. We always, our motto is like, if you see something, say something, you see those signs in the airport.

If you see something that does not look right, a child that is dressed in a sundress and it’s 32 degrees outside. A child that, you know, it just something just doesn’t feel right. Make a report and let the professionals determine if there’s something that might be going on. There’s no shame in making a report if something doesn’t seem right.

There are professionals that can support the child, the situation to make sure that kids are safe at the end of the day.

Carol: Say I see something that doesn’t look quite right. Who should I pick up the phone and call?

Sheila: Call 9 1 1. Call law enforcement. Okay. People can call and make reports as well for trafficking, cases. if you suspect trafficking. There is a 1 800 number and that is actually run by Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia, and we work very closely with Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia to then coordinate that care and support for trafficking victims. 1-866-END-HTGA.

Carol: Okay. Financially, what does it take to support a child?

Sheila: Yeah, so, to provide services for children coming into the Georgia Center. It costs about $3,000 per child. And when you think about it to provide all of the support, all of the healing, that whole healing journey, $3,000 to help a child heal from trauma is not a lot.
And you know, we just, we never say no to a child. And we want to continue to be able to serve all kids that come through our doors.

Carol: And how, and how are your programs funded?

Sheila: So our programs are funded through a combination of federal, state, and local grants. But then another really important source of funding is just through the community, through companies, through individuals, through foundations.

Over the past couple of years, one of our federal funders has cut funding pretty significantly. And it has affected all agencies that serve victims of crime. For the Georgia Center, what that means is that we have about $500,000 less a year to help these kids than we did several years ago. And so with that, we are reaching out to the community to help us fill that gap.

It’s so important. The work that we do, there’s no one else that does this work. And, and we have very specially trained individuals to do this work. And it’s just critical that we continue to do it. We continue to see more kids, more families. and kids that have experienced more severe traumas and more traumas.
And so this work is more important than ever before. And so that’s where we really appeal to the community to help us fill those gaps so that we can continue to do this work.

Carol: I believe I read in some of your literature that, 57 percent of your clients are between the ages of five and 12. And you also shared that in 2023, there was a 34-percent increase in the need for therapy for victims just from the year before. Yes. Okay. So what are some of the long-term effects if these children don’t get the services that they need?

Sheila: If children are not receiving the care and support and therapy that they need, there are a lot of mental, emotional, and even physical long-term ramifications. Studies have shown everything from higher rates of depression, higher rates of suicide, lower salary levels, higher rates of heart attacks, heart disease, strokes. I mean, you name it. There is just a whole gamut of different outcomes, negative outcomes for adults who don’t receive the care that they need if they have experienced trauma as a child.

Carol: You said a half-a-million-dollar shortfall annually? What does that mean? I mean, are children going to go unserved?

Sheila: Yes. Pure and simple. I mean, we, if we don’t have the funds, we cannot serve the kids that need to be served. We will have to cut programming. We don’t charge for any of our services.

We’re not like a typical company where if one revenue source goes down, we can, you know, charge more. We don’t charge for any of our services. And so we have to fill that gap in some way, or we cannot provide the services. It’s just a, it’s a very simple math problem.

Carol: And what are y’all doing to fill the gap?

Sheila: So we are doing a lot of things on a lot of different levels. Everything from talking to folks up in Washington about helping to kind of restructure the Victims of Crime Act funding. So everything from very, very high level to we’ve launched a couple of campaigns locally.

We have our Keeping Kids Safe campaign that individuals can come and support and be part of that campaign.

And then we also have established corporate partnerships where companies can support us at different levels. And, depending on the level that they want to support us, we can either come in and do training or work with them to provide education or activities that will help and support the kids that we serve.
So a lot of different ways for the community to, to get involved [and to help support the kids that we’re serving. that we’re helping to heal.

Carol: Sheila, how can organizations and individuals help you further your mission?

Sheila: There are a couple of really easy ways to do that. First of all, they can go to our website (www.georgiacenterforchildadvocacy.org) and make a donation. That’s really simple. They can also, if they’re a corporation that are interested in being a corporate partner, they can call our office (678-904-2880) and we’ll connect them to our development team and have further conversations about what that looks like.

We also have our annual gala, and that is www.cheerforchildren.org and they can go to that website, be a sponsor, buy tickets and support us that way and come out and have a really good fun time as we work to help and support the mission and serve kids.

Carol: Okay. Well, Sheila, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate you sharing your work and what the GCCA is doing for the children in our community who’ve been sexually and physically abused. So thank you very much.