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ABOUT
US
OVERVIEW
Mission
The Philadelphia Children’s Alliance acts to create a coordinated
multi-agency, interdisciplinary response to cases of child sexual abuse
to promote healing and justice for all victims.
The Children's Alliance accomplishes this mission by bringing police,
child protective services social workers, prosecutors, medical and mental
health professionals, and victim advocates to its facility, where they
participate in a team interview process with the child victim and his/her
family. The strength of this process lies in the multi-disciplinary team
approach and the Alliance’s highly skilled, experienced child forensic
(investigative) interviewers who coordinate the team and facilitate the
interview process in a neutral and objective manner.
The Alliance aids healing for victims by providing crisis counseling,
support and education groups for parents, self-esteem building groups
for child victims, court education and court accompaniment. The staff
can also arrange referrals for counseling and other social services that
a family may need to return to a healthy, productive lifestyle.
Family-Centered.
Child-Friendly.
Sexual Abuse Can Shatter a Child’s World
Child sexual abuse is an issue no one likes to think about. But it happens
every day. Everywhere. In all types of families and neighborhoods. Sexually
abused children have been traumatized and their sense of trust, safety
and self are compromised. Getting help can also be traumatic. The system
designed to protect kids can sometimes be so difficult for them to navigate
that it adds to their trauma, rather than relieving it.
Less traumatic. More Effective.
The Philadelphia Children’s Alliance exists to create a more effective,
caring response to children who have been sexually abused. We are dedicated
to providing justice and healing for sexually abused children. We work
to protect child victims and to improve the quality of investigations.
Our approach coordinates the efforts of child protective services, law
enforcement, prosecution, medical and mental health agencies, and victim
advocacy services so kids can quickly get the help they need to live safe,
fulfilling lives.
The Children’s Alliance Helps Put the Pieces Together Again
The Philadelphia Children’s Alliance responds with care and concern
to help children, to support families, to work closely with agencies that
provide services and to be a resource for adults who care for children.
Our programs . . .
• Are centered on the needs of children and adolescents.
• Enhance the ability of child protective services and police to
help children.
• Offer a centralized location for interviews and services.
• Provide ongoing support to children and non-offending caretakers
and parents.
Currently we are located in our own, child-friendly building, and police
investigators, child protective services, district attorneys and other
concerned agencies come to us. Ideally, we would like to be co-located
with all our partner agencies. We look forward to that happening within
two years, when we move to a new facility with police, social services
and medical and mental health providers.
Click
here for a Co-Location Update
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