Safe haven: County opens center to ease trauma for child crime victims

January 09, 2010 | Written by Valliant Corley, Pilot staff writer | www.currypilot.com

GOLD BEACH – Victims of child abuse or other youth crimes now have a more friendly and less traumatic place to be interviewed because of work by volunteers, said Barbara Palicki, coordinator, director and interviewer for the Curry County Child Advocacy Center.

“The state has always worked on the concept that children should only be interviewed only once so they are not so traumatized,” Palicki said. “In the past, they were interviewed by police, child welfare, and others. The younger the child, the more traumatized it could be. That’s why advocacy centers were developed.”

The county has provided a small, three-room suite for the advocacy center in the basement of the courthouse for years.

“I was approached by Kolleen Estafford, a Brookings artist, and Tim Amlin of Brookings,” Palicki said. “They both had the opportunity to see the offices. They said things were going to change.”

Estafford and Amlin were given a tour of the offices by the District Attorney.

“They saw how bland this place was. They came up with the idea and they did a beautiful job,” Palicki said.

“I went out of town for training. When I came back, the interview room was done. Everything was provided. I had the table and chairs, everything else, the homey look, they did,” Palicki said.

“We had chosen the undersea theme and pirates,” she said. “Once I saw how beautiful that looked, it made me quit procrastinating.”

Following the theme in the interview room, she painted and decorated other rooms.

“Fred Meyer donated a flat screen television. We had one basically on its last leg,” Palicki said.

Palicki started her current position in February 2008, after retiring from the Brookings Police Department, taking over from Barbara Eells.

“As a police officer, I had been involved with children. Barbara Eells and I worked together on many cases,” Palicki said.

“State law requires the District Attorney to have a team of partners of many agencies for child support from any kind of crime to be sure that everybody gives service to the child and the child’s family,” she said.

“We’ve done this for many years,” Palicki said. “State law now requires a multi-department team to staff elder abuse. We’re above the curve in Curry County sometimes. We’ve always looked at families who abuse elders can also abuse children. It kind of went hand-in-hand.”

Palicki said the advocacy center is totally grant funded through the state and the Curry County Commission for Children and Families.

“And we do get donations,” she said.

Palicki said Curry County Commissioners provide the three-room unit, “otherwise there would be no advocacy center, no funds to build a place or pay a high rent.”

She said the center has been in place about 10 years.

“We now have the IRECORD system,” she said. “It allows us to record and safe keep the interviews with children. It’s a stand-alone computer. It archives and we can maintain the original interview, helping keep the child from being interviewed multiple times. We’ve grown since I took over.”

She said the advocacy center has been lucky.

“The state funds stayed absolutely the same for us,” she said, “even if the economy is iffy.”