It has been a challenge for children who have experienced sexual abuse, severe physical abuse, sexual exploitation, or witnessed domestic violence to tell their stories on the Island.
Not only is there the survival of the trauma itself, but they’ve had to face the additional burden and expense of traveling off-Island to get legal, emotional, and physical help.
But since last summer, the Cape-based child advocacy center Children’s Cove now has a presence on the Vineyard, and families no longer have to travel to its offices in Barnstable County to access its services.
In June last year, the Barnstable County Commissioners announced an interagency agreement between Children’s Cove and Martha’s Vineyard Community Services Connect to End Violence Program to help child victims of crime on Martha’s Vineyard.
“We have very similar philosophies and ways in which we support survivors,” says Children’s Cove’s community engagement and education program manager, Jacob Stapledon. “With their close relationship with the community and law enforcement, we just knew it would be a great fit.”
And since July 2023, Children’s Cove has had a fully functional forensic interview space at Connect, where children who are victims of sexual abuse can tell their story and get help.
“We worked with the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s office and the Department of Law Enforcement on the Vineyard to make sure that this is increasing ease of access not just for child victims but for the Children’s Cove’s multidisciplinary team that provides the wrap-around services,” Stapledon explains.
Stapledon says the goal now is to get the word out so that victims can be sure to get the help they need.
“Getting across [to the mainland] takes a whole day,” he said. “And we’ve anecdotally heard that children and families have said it’s too much, and decided not to pursue charges or anything related to these cases.”
Stapledon says that the strategy is already showing promising signs. In the fiscal year before the Connect space opened, between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, Children’s Cove had 11 cases from Martha’s Vineyard at its Cape offices. In this fiscal year alone, they have already seen nine cases from the Island.
“We’re already at least on par with where we were last year,” Stapledon said. “We are definitely seeing what we believe is going to be an increase in the referrals and interviews that are now taking place on the Island.”
In the past, children went to Children’s Cove’s child-friendly, confidential, and safe office, which provides the young victims of crime and abuse a streamlined, collaborative, and supportive approach to the investigation of these cases. That same space is in their backyard now, thanks to the partnership with Connect to End Violence.
Children’s Cove collaborates closely with local law enforcement, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in investigating these crimes. Without Children’s Cove’s advocacy services, says Stapledon, “a child would have to talk about their trauma in full detail to as many as eight to 11 different people.” Jacobson said that those children essentially relive that trauma each time they are interviewed. “We coordinate that multidisciplinary response,” he said, cutting down on the number of interviews.
Regarding its internal multipronged team, Stapledon explains, “We have a forensic interviewer specially trained on how to have these conversations with children … They are gathering all the information that law enforcement, the Department of Children and Families, and the prosecution need for the investigation.”
There are also a pediatric sexual assault nursing examiner, and a family services coordinator, who look at all the service referrals they can make to the community to support the child.
Connect is a domestic violence program and rape crisis center on the Vineyard that provides free and confidential services, including counseling, safety planning, crisis intervention, and advocacy to individuals who have experienced domestic abuse or sexual violence.
Children’s Cove and Connect have collaborated for many years to coordinate services for child victims and their nonoffending family members. In planning for the new office on Martha’s Vineyard, staff from both organizations collaborated to develop a forensic interview room, an observation area for a multidisciplinary team, and a family waiting room, allowing families access to Children’s Cove services on Island.
The partnership between the two programs provides numerous benefits to children and families of victims of crime, aside from eliminating the burden of lengthy travel. The program provides an immediate and direct connection with Connect staff to support them with access to Martha’s Vineyard Community Services (MVCS) programs and services.
Additionally, Children’s Cove’s approach already reduces costs for investigative agencies through its collaborative model. Each case referred from Martha’s Vineyard, with the multidisciplinary team meeting on-Island, minimizes the number of individuals who need to travel to the mainland, decreasing cost and increasing productivity for Vineyard law enforcement.
Children’s Cove is planning a parent’s night to educate participants on how to talk to children about body and online safety, sexual abuse, how to define it, and how to respond to a child if they make a disclosure about abuse.
“Whether you are a parent, caregiver, or guardian of a child, or a mandated reporter, or a child has said something to you, and you’re not sure where to get help, you’re always welcome to call us,” Stapledon emphasizes. “Even if you’re unsure and don’t want to leave your personal information, just a phone number is fine, too.”
Contact Children’s Cove at 508-375-0410, ext. 1, or at childrenscove.org. For information about what is child abuse and sexual exploitation, visit childrenscove.org/child-abuse/what-is-child-abuse and childrenscove.org/child-abuse/sexual-exploitation.
Parent resources are available at childrenscove.org/parents-caregivers/take-the-time-video and childrenscove.org/parents-caregivers/online-safety.
