Child abuse is an extremely serious public health problem that is alarmingly common in the US. According to the CDC, at least 1 in 7 children have experienced child abuse in the last year in one or more of its four forms - physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, or neglect. Child abuse constitutes an adverse childhood experience (ACE) that is linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance use concerns in adolescence and adulthood. ACEs are also understood to have long-term negative impacts on education, job opportunities, and earning potential. The relationship between traumatic childhood experiences and socioeconomic status is bidirectional, where rates of child abuse and neglect are five times higher for children in families with low socioeconomic status. 

In Minnesota, the problem is similarly widespread. Data from the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey suggests that over 60,000 children across K-12 may have experienced physical abuse, and around 37,000 may have experienced sexual abuse. The Minnesota Child Maltreatment Report found that 188,146 children were connected to a child abuse report between the years of 2015 and 2019. In a large majority of these cases, victims were not deemed as requiring ongoing services, contributing to the considerable rate of subsequent maltreatment reports within 12 months. Racially marginalized youth are disproportionately represented in child protection cases and affected by gaps in services. There is a strong need to strengthen agencies, organizations, and professionals who work closely with and for children to provide culturally-responsive services and prevent child abuse.

During the summer of 2022, I interned at CornerHouse as a Child and Family Services Advocate. I was assigned cases for which I served as a representative of the Family Services team on MDTs. For each case, I met with the caregivers who had brought in the child while their child was being interviewed. During these caregiver interviews, I was expected to check in with caregivers and see how they, their child, and other family members were doing during an understandably difficult time. Caregivers had an opportunity to let me know about any services (provided by CornerHouse or external) that they felt would be helpful at that point in time. All victim advocates were familiarized with the most commonly referred services, pamphlets for which were available in the interview room. The training process for the interviews was unsurprisingly lengthy and I was given a set of guidelines which I used to write out my own script (taking into account my own style of interacting and speaking). This script was then modified as I gained more experience, first through shadowing advocates and then by slowly leading more and more sections of the interview. Eventually, I was tasked with leading the entire caregiver interview process while my supervisor shadowed me. 

The caregiver interview was often the only time I would meet caregivers. As per CornerHouse protocol, I would schedule at least three follow-up calls over the course of several weeks to provide information and updates on services requested and continually check in. 

One day a week, I worked with the Client Services team who were more involved in intake, greeting families, and making sure the entire process went as smoothly as possible for victims and those who came in with them. This looked like many different things, from playing with children and their siblings while they waited, to calling in translators, and logging the information for each case. When I was in the reception, it was key to keep in mind that I would be the first interaction setting the tone for children as they entered an unfamiliar space and daunting process.

My internship at CornerHouse marked my first major foray into the area of social services, and my experiences taught me about this industry as well as my own strengths and weaknesses as I choose the type of work I want to pursue. I was able to gain experience in providing trauma-informed and culturally-responsive care, and gradually grew more confident in my ability to center the client’s needs and wishes. It was interesting to see how this manifests not just in interpersonal interactions but also in the physical space. Each room that clients would enter and pass through had been designed to be calming and not retraumatizing. Fluorescent lights were avoided and colors were intentionally selected. 

I also learnt about the secondary trauma that is inherent to this type of work, and gained invaluable advice on how to prioritize my own mental health while supporting others through immensely difficult experiences. 

Image Credits:

https://www.childfirstvermont.org/the-cac-model/

https://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/cac-model/