Child Abuse

Child abuse cases are perhaps the most difficult and challenging cases that our prosecutors handle. The dynamics of secrecy and delayed disclosure of abuse are unique to this type of crime. Child abuse, unlike many of our violent crimes, does not occur in public where witnesses may see what happened or where a security video may capture evidence of the crime on tape. Instead, child abuse often occurs in the privacy of the home, among those who are trusted. The abuser is often a parent, other family member or caretaker. Most often, there are no witnesses to the crime except the victim and the perpetrator.

These cases, however, are very rewarding when an offender is held accountable for their criminal abuse. Holding the offender accountable and protecting other children from abuse by the offender are the office's main goals. If an offender is held accountable for his or her actions, the victim is often able to move forward and lead a healthy and productive life.

HOWARD COUNTY'S CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER - "THE LISTENING PLACE"

The citizens of Howard County are very fortunate. The majority of reports of suspected child abuse are jointly investigated by Child Protective Service Workers (CPS) from the Department of Social Services and the Howard County Police. In fact, the police detectives handling reports of child abuse are housed together with CPS workers, a medical doctor who has a specialty in child abuse, a nurse and a victim liaison. This team of workers is housed at "the Listening Place," Howard County's Child Advocacy Center. Our prosecutors, while not housed at "the Listening Place" work very closely with the CPS workers, the child abuse detectives and the victim liaison. "The Listening Place," located near the Northern District Police Station is a single family home which has been converted into offices for CPS workers and child abuse detectives. In addition, a medical examination room, a conference room, and several interview rooms are all housed under this roof. The goal of "The Listening Place" is to make the investigation child friendly and safe.

Child abuse cases reviewed by the office and indicted are as follows:

Year	Sexual	Physical
1997	14	12
1998	16	11
1999	14	12
2000	12	7
2001	21	11

This committee includes the Director of Social Services, Sam Marshall; the head of Citizen Services, Manus O'Donnell; the Health Officer for Howard County, Dr. Penny Borenstein; the Chief of Police, Wayne Livesay and the director of the STTAR Center (Sexual Trauma Treatment and Recovery Center). The daily oversight if the Listening Place is provided by its program manager, Melissa McDermott-Lane.

Each investigation into suspected child abuse is reviewed at a weekly "staffing" meeting at which members of the multi-disciplinary team meet to provide input and advice. The multi- disciplinary team is comprised of CPS workers, child abuse detectives, prosecutors, a medical doctor, a nurse, the Program Manager of "The Listening Place," and counselors from the STTAR Center (formerly known as the Sexual Assault Center of Howard County) and the Domestic Violence Center. The multi-disciplinary team evaluates each case, makes recommendations for further investigations, and continues to monitor and assess each investigation for its viability as a criminal case or for some other disposition such as a child in need of assistance proceeding. Once an investigation is concluded, the State's Attorney's Office reviews each case to determine what, if any, charges will be filed.

If criminal charges are filed against an offender, the prosecutor begins to prepare the case for trial. This preparation involves meeting with the victim and witnesses in the case as well as researching any legal issues. In preparing the case, the prosecutor works closely with the victim liaison, the CPS worker and the detective to bring about a just resolution in these cases.

The benefits of having a multi-disciplinary team work on these cases are many. First, the victim is jointly interviewed by CPS and the police therefore limiting the number of times the child will have to disclose the details of their abuse. Another benefit of the multi-disciplinary team is the ability to recognize the needs of the victim early on and an attempt to provide those services, or referrals for services in a prompt manner. The team of trained and caring professionals on the multi-disciplinary team provide for swift and complete investigations and prosecutions in these most difficult of cases.