1. It Shouldn’t Hurt to Be a Child
Foothills Child Advocacy Center
Good day! Thank you for this opportunity.
My name is Cathee Johnson Phillips, and I am executive director of Foothills Child Advocacy Center.
We were founded in 2006 to help abused children.
We are fully accredited by the National Children’s Alliance and a private, independent, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
It Shouldn’t Hurt to Be a Child
Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors
December 17, 2018

2. Thank you! Thank you so much for your funding this year, FY19!
Thank you for your consideration for FY20!

3. What is child abuse? In Virginia, child abuse includes:
Mental Abuse (Emotional)
Neglect/Medical Neglect
Physical Abuse
Sexual Abuse
Substance Exposed Infant
Any child under 18
Under the Virginia law, an abused or neglected child is any child
under 18 whose parent, or any other person responsible for the care of the child:
causes, or threatens to cause, a physical or mental injury except for an accident.
fails to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or caring support.
abandons the child.
fails to provide the kind of supervision necessary for a child’s age or level of development.
commits, or allows to be committed, any illegal sexual act involving the child — including incest, rape, fondling, indecent exposure, prostitution — or allows the child to be used in any sexually explicit visual material.

4. CPS Accepted Referrals by Locality FY 2018
Referrals for Mental Neglect, Physical Neglect, Physical Abuse, and Sexual Abuse
EMPHASIZE CPS ONLY
This shows mental neglect, physical neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse.
Total of 2,567 accepted referrals, 748 investigations, and 395 founded

5. How prevalent is child sexual and physical abuse in Fluvanna County?
39 CPS referrals and 10 LE referrals
The top line is the number of referrals that CPS has ACCEPTED for SEXUAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSE of children.
EMPHASIZE CPS – SOME OF THE CHILDREN SERVED COULD HAVE BEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT REFERRALS
The bottom line is the number of children from Fluvanna County for which we received referrals from Law Enforcement and CPS – children served.
– 10 referrals from Sherriff and 39 from CPS - Later I’ll show you a chart illustrating that
Total of 399 accepted referrals since FY Total Sexual abuse allegations = 94 and Physical = 305. .

6. The children need a safe place.
One way that we do this is to provide a safe, child-friendly facility for them to come to and talk about what happened
In Fluvanna, that safe place is at the Department of Social Services.
Imagine how difficult it must be for a child to talk about something like sexual abuse to a stranger.
The child may be afraid of getting into trouble – or getting their abuser into trouble. In fact, 60 percent of children never tell anyone about their abuse. A child must feel secure and safe to talk about what has happened.
The interview is recorded and observed by law enforcement and child protective services, so that the child doesn’t have to be interviewed over and over again.
That reduces re-traumatization for the child and helps the child to move forward.

7. Our Services A child-friendly, safe place for the child and family;
Legally sound child forensic interviews conducted by our neutral, professional forensic interviewer;
Forensic medical evaluations;
Family support services, such as risk, needs, and trauma assessments, education, and referrals for mental health, medical, and other needed services; and
Participation in ongoing case review.
Besides a safe place and child forensic interviews, we provide family support at possible and assist in ongoing case review.

8. The Fluvanna County Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Team (MDT)
Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office
Department of Social Services
Sherriff’s Office
Victim/Witness Office
And Foothills
We support the family throughout the investigative and treatment process.
We assist and participate in the Fluvanna County Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Team (MDT).
The Fluvanna County MDT members include:
Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office
Department of Social Services
Sherriff’s Office
Victim/Witness Office
And Foothills
Other nonprofits who are our partners also provide services to these children.
We all work together to make sure the family has all of the services and support it needs, to reduce gaps in services, and to reduce duplication of services.

9. Fluvanna Referrals to Foothills
Here you can see the breakdown for CPS and LE referrals. Please keep in mind that some cases are jointly investigated by both – this just shows who referred the child to Foothills.
More children are receiving the recommended services since our staff has been coming to Foothills. .

10. Fluvanna Residents Served
Time Period
Children
Caregivers
TOTALS
FY 12 - FY 16 42 49 91
FY 17 36 79
FY 18 32 81
FY 19 through 11/30/2018 22 15 37
TOTAL
155
132
287
FY 19 Projected 53 89
FY 20 Projected 60 40
100
The program to bring services to Fluvanna is working!
As a result, in FY 2017, 42 children were served – the same number as in the previous FOUR YEARS.
The number of children served continues to increase.
In FY 2018 (July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018), Foothills served 49 new children and their families from Fluvanna. That number represents an increase of 8, or 20 percent, over FY Thirty-one of these children were served on site in Fluvanna, and 17 children were served at the Charlottesville facility.
The program is working!

11. COST PER CHILD PROJECTED FOR 2020 = $200
Savings/Benefits to Fluvanna County
Time/$$$
Maximizes investigators’ time
Less driving to Charlottesville and back; reduces mileage costs;
Receive more accurate information from child that aids the MDT members in making decisions on charging, prosecution, and treatment in a more timely manner;
Assistance in acquiring resources and referrals for children and families, especially in non-caretaker cases.
Benefit to victims
Can receive help where they live;
Reduces transportation and work barriers;
Have greater access to services, especially in non-caretaker cases;
Reduce likelihood that child must enter foster care.
Savings of
$1,318
per case
Communities that have developed a CAC experience many benefits, including a reduction in the number of child victim interviews and increased successful prosecution.  Studies also indicate that communities with a CAC versus communities using the traditional CPS-Law Enforcement response to child abuse saves $1,318 per child abuse case, according to National Children's Advocacy Center researchers in Huntsville, AL. 
The study also found that traditional investigations cost 45% more than CAC investigations.
COST PER CHILD PROJECTED FOR 2020 = $200

12. Respectfully Requesting $12,000
Funding Request
Total Cost of Program for Five
Counties in FY 2018
49 of 100 children served
were from Fluvanna, or 49%
Total Cost for Fluvanna
LESS: Covered by VOCA grant
TOTAL NEEDED for FY 2020
$58,886.00
X.49
$28,854.00
- $9,184.00
$19,670.00
Forensic Interviewer Services $31,753.00
Family Support Services $18,742.00
Mileage $4,276.00
Administration $3,432.00
Printing $683.00
TOTAL ACTUAL COSTS in FY $58,886.00
Foothills is seeking funding from the five counties served by the Child Abuse Victim Outreach Expansion Program (Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Madison, and Nelson). In FY 2018, Foothills served a total of 100 new children from these localities. Forty-nine of these children, or 49 percent, were referred by Fluvanna County CPS or Law Enforcement.
• The total annual cost for serving the five counties in FY 2018 was $58,886. The total annual cost for bringing services to Fluvanna children and families is 49 percent of that, or $28,
• A renewable VOCA grant administered by the Virginia Department of Social Services, will cover the cost ($9,184) of the ongoing family support services for FY 2020 for Fluvanna families. That leaves a balance of $19,670 that will be needed to provide these services in FY 2020.
• Foothills respectfully requests $12, towards providing services to child victims and their families from Fluvanna County in FY 2020.
We are asking other counties for: Fluvanna - $10,000; Buckingham - $4,500; Greene -- $4,000; Madison -- $2,000; AND Nelson – no opportunity
Respectfully Requesting $12,000

13. Cathee Johnson Phillips, cjphillips@foothillscac.org, 434-971-7233
Thank you!
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Cathee Johnson Phillips,