Nov 26 2008
Open Letter To San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
This letter is being posted on behalf of my friend Carmen Henesy.
Dear Mayor Newsom,
The National Center for Victims of Crime estimates that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will have experienced an episode of sexual abuse while younger than 18 years.
Children who are abused or neglected are more likely to become criminal offenders as adults. A National Institute of Justice study found “that childhood abuse increased the odds of future delinquency and adult criminality overall by 40 percent” (Widom, 1992).
Consequences of child sexual abuse range “from chronic depression to low self-esteem to sexual dysfunction to multiple personalities. A fifth of all victims develop serious long-term psychological problems, according to the American Medical Association.
Sexual abuse of children is a major public health issue with possible long reaching sequeale that can have many effects on this city.
Who will care for our most vulnerable victims, those from birth to 18 years of
age, who have suffered the most horrible crimes? The four registered nurses at CASARC are part of a multidisciplinary team that includes CPS, social services, the police department, its specialized inspectors in the field of sex abuse, the office of the district attorney and allied professions in the community. They have provided services to the children of San Francisco on a 24 hour a day/seven day a week basis. We are familiar with all these various systems and the unique needs of these disenfranchised and traumatized children. These children deserve our expertise as they try to heal.
Among us, we cumulatively have over sixty-five years of experience in the field of child sexual abuse. As specially trained child interviewers, we enable even the young child to tell about what happened to him which makes it more likely to have a successful criminal prosecution. These children have one chance to tell what happened in a forensically defensible interview. Accomplishing this requires consummate skill on the part of the interviewer. CASARC nurses are the experts at doing this. In addition, we all have extensive training and education in the areas of child development and forensics, We provide evidence collection, crisis intervention, case management, outreach and education in the community and consultation to other professionals.
As one juvenile inspector told us, “You are our 911.”
If your child were ill, would you take him to an adult medical provider or a pediatrician? In these cases of the most heinous crime against innocent children, CASARC nurses are the specialists in every aspect of meeting the needs of the young victim.
The proposed budget cuts will leave only one RN at CASARC, decimating an agency that has served San Francisco children for over a quarter of a century. It will eliminate the one Spanish speaking nurse and the only African American nurse that has ever been regularly employed at CASARC in its twenty-five plus year existence.
What a sad legacy for your administration to leave behind!
Carmen Henesy, RN, SANE-A
Child & Adolescent Support, Advocacy, and Resource Center ( CASARC )
