June 19 golf outing to raise funds to benefit Tree House
When the boy reported that he had been abused, he was brought to the Tree House.
He was interviewed by Paula Hocking, manager of the Walworth County Child Advocacy Center, as a team of law enforcement officers, social workers and medical personnel watched from another room.
After the interview was completed, a victim’s advocate sat with the boy as he made himself comfortable and watched a movie. His life was on the path toward recovery.
Over the past year, about 300 such interviews have been conducted inside the Tree House. Vulnerable adults who have been mistreated now come to the Tree House as well.
“It is absolutely amazing. It is something in my professional career that I feel we as a county are so blessed to have. Kids and families are coming here and they are feeling like they are being served,” said Paula Hocking, manager of the Walworth County Child Advocacy Center, which operates out of the Tree House.
Before the Tree House
Abuse cases were not handled as effectively when Hocking worked as a social worker in Walworth County 20 years ago, she said.
At that time, if a child told a teacher that he or she had been abused, the teacher would get the school counselor, and the child would have to repeat the story for the counselor.
Then the counselor would get the principal, and the child would have to tell the principal what happened.
The principal would call a social worker, and the child would tell the story again.
Then a police officer would be called, and the child would have to tell the story again.
“It ended up being where kids were having to be re-victimized by telling what happened to them sometimes eight, nine, 10 times,” Hocking said.
Team approach
“What the Tree House building does is it brings all of our disciplines to one spot,” Hocking said.
For each case, social workers, law enforcement officers, medical doctors and victim advocates all gather together in the Tree House. They sit at a table, meet the family and explain their roles to the family.
“We build a team approach around that family,” Hocking said.
To make the process easier for the victim, a medical exam is done at the Tree House. Showers are available, and counseling can begin right away.
“When the family leaves here, we have met the component of gathering all the information one time, working together as a team,” Hocking said. “People are walking away, still saddened by what has happened, but feeling like they are being served. It is amazing.”
Sometimes two or three different law enforcement officers are present for a case because the abuse may have happened in several jurisdictions, but the child doesn’t have to talk to every officer.
“The child is just talking to me,” Hocking said.
The parent, however, may meet with the officers.
“If the parent is having their meeting, the child is in a separate room, maybe watching a movie, reading a book, sitting with an advocate, playing a game, and separated, so they don’t feel threatened. It is a room designed to make kids feel very comfortable,” Hocking said.
Most children feel so comfortable that they tell Hocking, “I’m going to stay here a little longer.”
“That’s why we built the Tree House. When a family is in crisis, we want to make them feel as comfortable as we can,” Hocking said.
Staggering statistics
Located in Elkhorn amongst the hospital and county buildings, the Tree House resembles a house rather than an institution.
The playground and playhouse in the building’s back yard help create a sense of security for children. The fireplace, TV and comfortable interior help entire families feel more at ease.
Since the Tree House opened in April 2013, it has received more than 1,200 referrals, with 276 children receiving forensic interviews in 2013.
In 2012, the Child Advocacy Center received 1,328 referrals and interviewed 311 children.
The Tree House was built through the funding of the Walworth County Alliance for Children, a nonprofit organization.
The Child Advocacy Center is the program that operates out of the Tree House building. The Child Advocacy Center is a program of the Children’s Hospital of Milwaukee. It is one of seven hospital child advocacy centers in Wisconsin. There are more than 750 Child Advocacy Centers across the nation.
Still, the Tree House is unique in that it allows a healing environment where numerous agencies come together to meet the needs of individual children and vulnerable adults.
Want to help?
The Walworth County Alliance for Children is holding a golf fundraiser to benefit the Tree House on June 19 at Evergreen Golf Club, N6246, U.S. 12, in Elkhorn. Check-in and lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. with a 1 p.m. shotgun start. The cost of the four-person scramble is $90, which includes golf, a cart, lunch, dinner and prizes. To only attend the dinner, the cost is $20. Interested parties can register as teams of four. Individuals are welcome and will be placed on a team with three other golfers. Teams and individuals can register online at www.wcac4kids.org. For information, contact Kathy at (262) 741-1449.
