The Lancaster County Children’s Alliance (LCA) provides children who are victims of sexual abuse and their families with comprehensive services within a child-friendly environment. As a child advocacy center (CAC), LCA brings together various members of child protection, law enforcement, prosecution, victim advocacy, medical and mental health communities to form a multidisciplinary team (MDT). This MDT provides timely, coordinated, child-focused investigative and intervention services with a common sense of duty and purpose. The goal is to ensure that children are not re-victimized by the very system designed to protect them. Appointments are made by police or child protection investigators. If you have a question about your appointment, please call the person that made the appointment for you or the Lancaster Co Children’s Alliance 717-544-1929.
The Lancaster County Children’s Alliance is an Associate Member of the National Children’s Alliance (http://www.nca-online.org/), actively involved with the Pennsylvania State Chapter of CAC’s and MDT’s and a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC). LCA provides digitally recorded forensic interviews, non-invasive medical examinations and non-offending parenting groups. The information gathered is only provided to investigative parties.
How can I help my child: Children can express themselves with feeling, words and behaviors, your child may need help to talk. Listen. Respect your child’s feelings. Remember, whatever your child is feeling is normal for your child. It may be hard for your child to talk to you about things that are personal, painful or embarrassing. It’s okay if your child needs to talk to other helping adults. Help your child identify safe people to talk to. It is difficult for families when children are harmed. It is important to express your feelings without confusing or frightening your child. It may be helpful to talk about your feelings with adults who will listen. You and your family may find counseling helpful. The YWCA Sexual Assault Prevention and Counseling Center (SAPCC) has a 24-hour confidential hotline 717-392-7273.
The purpose of the forensic interview in a CAC environment is to obtain a statement from a child, in a developmentally and culturally sensitive, unbiased and fact-finding manner that will support accurate and fair decision making by the involved MDT in the criminal justice and child protection systems. Forensic interviews are child-centered and coordinated to avoid duplication. Children can get tired of answering questions. Please don’t question your child before coming to your appointment. You can tell your child that the appointment is a safe place to talk about what happened. You can also tell your child that many children come to the Children’s Alliance, and it’s okay to talk to the people there. During the interview, the children are spoken to by themselves. Parents/caregivers/ other interested parties are not allowed to observe the interviews.
The medical examination is conducted by trained medical providers who are familiar and keep up-to-date with published research studies on findings in abused and non-abused children, sexual transmission of infections in children, and current medical guidelines and recommendations from national professional organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The medical examinations are non-invasive and child-friendly. These examinations can often relieve any anxiety that the child or parents may have about the health of the child’s body.
What happens to the interview information?
Your child’s interview and/or medical examination is part of a child protection and /or police investigation. Information is protected by confidentiality laws. Only the investigative team is able to watch the interview and receive information about the interview and medical examination. After the appointment, the police and/or child protection investigator will meet with you. They will tell you what they can about the investigation and answer your questions about what will happen next. Lancaster Co Children’s Alliance respects the privacy of each child and family. The interview and medical examinations are confidential. The DVD and written reports are sometimes used as evidence in criminal, juvenile or family court.
To report suspect child abuse, please contact ChildLine at 1-800-932-0313, Lancaster County Children and Youth 299-7925 or 1-800-675-2060, and/or your local law enforcement agency.
The Non-Offending Parent Group is a psycho-educational program for non-offending parents of sexually abused children and partners of sexual offenders. It consists of 10 group sessions lasting 90 minutes each. The sessions are offered quarterly each year. There are 8 different criteria areas used for determining the non-offending parent’s competency for reducing the risk of child sexual abuse. By the last session, participants should have the ability to:
- Acknowledge feelings
- Accept responsibility
- Acknowledge the impact of child sexual abuse on children
- Recognize indicators of child sexual abuse
- Acknowledge their own childhood sexual abuse
- Understand offender’s patterns, chains, cycles, and relapse prevention plan
- Know how to protect children from child sexual abuse
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Implement a family safety plan
The Lancaster County Children’s Alliance is located at 628 North Duke Street. Parking is available either on the street or at the LGH James Street parking garage (parking will be validate, please bring your ticket with you). For more information on the services provided, please contact LCA at (717)-544-1929.
The most important way you can help the Lancaster County Children’s Alliance in its mission of providing comprehensive services, justice and healing for sexually abused children is through donations. For more information on how you can support, please contact the Lancaster General HealthCare Foundation (717)-544-7126.
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