MEDIA, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A new state-of-the-art support center in Delaware County is helping young sexual assault victims get the help they need, while also helping put sex offenders behind bars.
The Family Support Line provides a crucial resource for court cases involving children, especially those who are sexual abuse victims, according to their executive director Sarah Gibbons. She says their new 13,000-square-foot space in Chester Heights, equipped with bright lights, plush seats, and comforting toys, allows them to better serve some of the county’s most vulnerable residents.
“We provide 360 comprehensive child sexual abuse education, prevention education, therapy, and also advocacy,” she said.
Their new children’s advocacy center is critical for their forensic interviewers who are tasked with sitting with children and speaking with them about what trauma they might have experienced. Many of those interviews are used in court to help convict sex offenders.
Gibbons says having a safe, comfortable space is crucial to helping those young witnesses who otherwise might be too intimidated to talk.
“A child having to go to a courthouse or a law enforcement office to testify around what has happened to them is very trauma intensive,” she said.
According to Gibbons, in the last fiscal year, the support line provided more than 400 forensic interviews and saw over 700 kids in the county. So far this year, they’re on pace to see even more in their new space.
Gibbons says they’re using a $100,000 grant to create a room that provides medical exams, so families don’t have to go to various places and relive their trauma.