Jacob Shellabarger

Welcome to this month’s “Opening Statement,” an update for our community about the criminal justice system and how the Audrain County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office works for justice for all citizens. In this installment, we’re taking a look at how child abuse, neglect and exploitation cases are investigated and prosecuted through multi-disciplinary teams: trained professionals working together for consistent outcomes.

Child abuse, neglect and sexual assault cases are complex and involve multiple partners: child protective services, which in Missouri are administered from Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services, as well as the juvenile office, law enforcement agencies, medical providers, counselors, court-appointed attorneys known as guardian ad litems, victim advocates, family advocates, and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. 

The central coordinating agency is the Regional Child Advocacy Center (CAC); and for Audrain County this is the Child Advocacy Center of Central Missouri, based in Columbia. The Center also serves 12 other Mid-Missouri counties with its team of specially-trained advocates, health care workers, and forensic interviewers for children. There are more than 1,000 CACs nationally, with 15 in Missouri.

Our Audrain County multi-disciplinary team meets regularly to discuss criminal cases that are filed, new and pending investigations, and training opportunities for team members. Each participating agency has particular responsibilities and roles as part of the Team. The 12th Circuit Juvenile Office and Children’s Division are directly responsible for providing services to protect child welfare; law enforcement agencies such as Mexico Public Safety and the Audrain County Sheriff’s Office, investigate the abuse and neglect to provide information and facts; medical providers and counselors provide treatment updates and mental/physical health updates on the children; and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office considers legal issues relating to the investigation and the case. Other partners, such as guardian ad litem (a court-appointed attorney who represents the child’s best interests), therapists and counselors who work with the child’s mental health, and medical providers help the child heal. Child Advocacy center staff include a family advocate, who helps put the child and family in touch with resources for physical and mental health, and the forensic interviewer, a highly-trained professional interviewer who asks questions of children in a neutral, developmentally-appropriate and safe manner to help determine the child’s perspective and communicate their experience.

When a child discloses physical or sexual abuse, or neglect, or is a witness to a traumatic and criminal event, the team mobilizes to serve them. Initially, law enforcement takes initial reports, then is joined by the Juvenile Office and Children’s Division workers to start the process by making sure the child is protected, safe and secure. As the investigation progresses, the forensic interviewer and CAC staff, including medical providers and mental health providers, join to protect the child. Later, as the case proceeds through the investigation and comes to court, the guardian ad litem, juvenile office, and prosecuting attorney’s office become involved. Sometimes, school officials, community leaders, outside health providers and other area agencies become involved with the team depending on the case and the child’s needs. This collaborative and whole-case approach is a best practice in abuse response.

The point of coordination between these agencies is to improve communication about outcomes to protect children. Professionals work across their respective disciplines to protect children through swift, effective and research-backed solutions – and bring those who abuse and neglect children to justice. Each team member’s input and agency perspective is brought together at frequent meetings regarding cases under investigation. At the most recent MDT meeting, Audrain County agencies and stakeholders discussed 24 child neglect, physical and sexual abuse cases under investigation, and an additional 15 cases which are active in the criminal justice system.

The team coordinates with other outside investigation agencies – recently, we have worked with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division, the Missouri DSS State Technical Assistance Team and other agencies involved in Audrain County children disclosing their abuse in other jurisdictions. Recently, a child whose family left Audrain County and relocated disclosed abuse by a neighbor in Audrain County. Our MDT works closely with local resources and law enforcement in that new location – keeping the child’s needs, safety and healing first, with intent to persistently pursue justice for this child and family locally.

The Child Advocacy Center of Central Missouri is led by executive director Brenda Porter, and serves Audrain and many other area counties. During the past five years, CAC-CMO has completed about 2,800 interviews, with children as young as three years old, and also has capability to serve older teens, adults with developmental disabilities, and multilingual and other at-risk populations. Missouri KidsFirst, at essential4kids.org, is the state-wide organization that coordinates education, promotion and professional development for Missouri CACs.

Recent changes to Missouri law allow use of recorded forensic interviews for children under the age of 18 as protected child witnesses. This prevents the trauma of repeated questioning for children and their families. The intent of a forensic interview is to ensure the child’s words are heard, listened to, used in the investigation and are accurately reflected in the outcomes. As a team, we want to ensure the child is able to re-tell their experiences without having to traumatically re-live those experiences.

Information sharing and constructive feedback on cases, making sure to avoid duplicating investigation efforts, and making sure the team stays focused on what’s best for the child ensure these difficult investigations and prosecutions yield better results for those kids. We work smarter and more efficiently when we communicate early and often in responding to child abuse and neglect. Team members can encourage each other, understand stress and pressure of these emotional and draining investigations, and improve outcomes by working together.