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Advocacy center reaches children in rural communities

Topeka Capital Journal - 9/9/2019

GARDEN CITY — The Western Kansas Child Advocacy Center’s newest mobile unit is a large RV altered to offer medical examinations for young victims of physical and sexual abuse, and it’s making an impact, staff says.

Last year, the WKCAC, which operates six locations, including one in Finney County, and six RV mobile units, facilitated 10 forensic exams. Since the mobile exam unit hit the road on April 1, it’s completed 42, Garcia said.

“We’re just trying to get our services out there and let other counties know that we have this program,” Garcia said about the newest mobile unit.

The WKCAC has three mobile units for mental health evaluations and two for forensic interviews, when representatives from the WKCAC, local law enforcement and the court and legal system listen as a child recounts their abuse to an interviewer in a separate room. The new bus is funded by a federal grant from the Office of Violence Against Women and allows for a full-time nurse.

The unit, like the other RVs, not only expands the WKCAC’s capabilities but helps them better serve rural areas, where access to sexual assault exams and mental health treatment may be limited, said Kelly Robbins, WKCAC founder and director. Even if victims are half an hour away from a WKCAC location, they are less likely to seek out the services, she said.

The mobile unit program, styled after a similar system in Flagstaff, Ariz., was put in place in 2007.

“In that first year, we had a 157% increase in the requests for our services because we were coming to them,” Robbins said.

The units’ services are free and open to anyone, Garcia said. A concerned adult can reach out to local law enforcement, the Department for Children and Families or the WKCAC itself and staff will organize a forensic interview.

The medical exam bus, like all WKCAC offices, are designed to be child-friendly, with popping colors and soft surfaces. The exam table in the back of the bus is painted like a school bus and the back wall buffered with pillows and stuffed animals. When a child comes on the bus, nurses and an accompanying advocate put the child at ease by coloring or getting to know one another, Garcia said.

Eventually, they’ll move to the exam room, where nurses will go “head to toe,” looking for evidence of physical or sexual abuse. If the child is ever uncomfortable, they stop, Garcia said.

To learn more about the WKCAC and its services, call their main office at 620-872-3706.

Amber Friend , Garden City Telegram