One in four girls and one in six boys are abused, usually at the hands of someone they know.
As the nation’s largest victims’ services agency, working with hundreds of thousands of survivors of abuse and crime each year, we know all too well that victims of domestic violence and sexual assault feel an overwhelming sense of shame, often preventing them from seeking help. This is never more true than with abused children and their caretakers, who feel an even more heightened sense of confusion, guilt and shame in coming forward.
Although nearly 3 million children are abused in our country every year, sadly, many people have trouble accepting its reality. Across the country, there are nearly 700 Child Advocacy Centers devoted to providing safe spaces that provide intervention, emotional support and treatment services for young victims of abuse.
Safe Horizon runs four nationally accredited Child Advocacy Centers, which help more than 4,000 children in New York City each year, using a therapeutic team approach to investigating, prosecuting and treating the most severe cases of child abuse. With experts from both government and nonprofit service providers working together at each location, the Child Advocacy Centers offer proven services to help physically and sexually abused children and their caregivers.
This spring, in the Science Times section, the New York Times highlighted the implementation of the Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention (CFTSI) at Safe Horizon’s Child Advocacy Centers. Safe Horizon piloted CFTSI in partnership with the Yale Childhood Violent Trauma Center in an effort to help children and their family members cope with the trauma of abuse, providing a means of recovery for victims and their families and also helping children avoid the many emotional problems that can occur later in life, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
At Safe Horizon, we have found that healing is possible, and the more people know about the options available to them, the more likely they are to seek help and support. That’s why we are so grateful to and supportive of NO MORE and their efforts to shine a spotlight on the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault, so that every individual whose life is touched by violence has the chance to receive the assistance they need and deserve.
Ariel Zwang is Chief Executive Officer at Safe Horizon, the largest victims’ services agency in the United States, touching the lives of 250,000 children, adults, and families affected by crime and abuse throughout New York City each year. Since 1978, Safe Horizon has provided victims of domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking, rape and sexual assault, as well as homeless youth and families of homicide victims, with a wide range of comprehensive support. Visit www.safehorizon.org for more information.
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