Victoria's police chief has backed plans for a regional child-abuse investigation centre staffed by a team of specially trained police, prosecutors, social workers, counsellors and other experts.
Jamie Graham said he became a believer in the concept after visiting Edmonton's Zebra Child Protection Centre -- one of the first of its kind in Canada. The centre provides a "one-stop" unit for investigating sexual abuse and serious physical abuse of children, and for support and counselling for child victims and their families.
"There's no downside to this," Graham told agencies that attended a planning meeting at police headquarters this week. "This is a good idea. Nobody is going to say this is a bad idea."
Victoria's Mary Manning Centre, which treats victims of sexual abuse, has been pushing the project, which it calls the Organized Response to Child Abuse or ORCA Centre.
Organizers envision a team of experts that would handle cases in the capital region, but provide advice and assistance on other cases across Vancouver Island. They hope to establish a non-profit society by July and -- depending on money -- hold a community forum in the fall.
"It would be great if Victoria could be the first place in B.C. to establish a place like this," Fred Ford, Mary Manning's former executive director, told the meeting.
Ford said that while many people and agencies do excellent work in Victoria, there are still cases where children fall through the cracks. In some instances, officials don't have experience interviewing children or investigating child sexual abuse.
Organizers say ORCA would become a "centre of excellence," improve co-operation between agencies and make sure all cases get properly investigated, and that victims receive prompt care.
Ford said research shows child-advocacy centres minimize trauma to children by reducing the number of interviewers to whom child victims have to tell their stories.
The Zebra centre also reports higher rates of convicting offenders. Of 80 child-abuse cases that came before the courts in Edmonton in 2007, 65 resulted in findings of guilt, the centre reports. "This ratio is unheard of under conventional, non-integrated approaches to this crime."
The preliminary estimate is that it would cost $400,000 to $500,000 to run the ORCA centre, while staff would continue to be paid and supervised by their own agencies. The source of that money has yet to be determined.
The Edmonton service began in 2001 with money from the federal and provincial governments, as well as corporate and public donations. The Edmonton Police Service paid for the centre's lease, according to a report in the Edmonton Journal.
Steve Sullivan, Canada's first ombudsman for crime victims, recently urged the federal government to invest in a network of such centres across the country. His recommendation is expected to form the centrepiece of a report, Every Image, Every Child, due out later this month.
"Parents should not have to take their children to office after office as their child tells their story to stranger after stranger; adults who suffered abuse as children should not still be suffering because they were not given the support they needed," Sullivan said in a letter to the government earlier this year.
In addition to Edmonton, similar centres exist in St. Catharines, Ont., and more than 700 locations across the United States.
lkines@tc.canwest.com
