When a child is abused in Kodiak there is an extensive group of public professionals ready to help right the wrong, or at least help with healing. But victims of abuse can slip through the cracks between groups of teachers, counselors, doctors, law enforcement officers and social workers. Having to retell the experience to half a dozen agencies also can be traumatizing for children.

Cindy Harrington, director of Children’s Services at Kodiak Area Native Association (KANA) wants to unify community response to child abuse. Last month, her office received a three-year $515,455 federal Department of Justice grant to develop a communitywide response.

Harrington plans to establish a community Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) modeled after similar institutions statewide, especially other Native-run CACs. The grant also would help restore certification programs for nurses trained to respond to sexual assault.

Although KANA received the grant, Herrington said she hopes KANA’s grant-writing and organizational work will benefit the entire community.

“The dream and vision is that it will be for all the children in Kodiak,” she said. “Although, that might take some additional funding down the line.”

KANA is a logical pick to coordinate community response to child abuse, as the rate of abuse is especially high in Native communities throughout the state, including Kodiak.

“One of our organization’s main goals is reducing disproportionality,” said Alaska Children’s Service field manager Mary Gray.

“Only about 15 percent of Alaskans are Native, but a far greater percentage of child abuse cases come from Native communities.”

Although, Harrington hopes the CAC is kid-friendly, the structure of the organization is more important than the structure of the building. Kodiak’s CAC would likely start operating out of an existing facility.

“It could be at the KANA building, it could be at the hospital, it could be at the police station,” she said.

Harrington said a working CAC would physically bring together representatives from all the relevant agencies. In the event of serious child abuse including sexual abuse, all would watch a single forensic interview and then together decide how to respond.

Harrington plans to use the first year of the grant to train the multidisciplinary response teams with the goal of beginning service by the second year. In the third year, she wants to find a stand-alone site for the Kodiak CAC.

Another new service of Kodiak’s CAC would be nurses trained to respond to sexual assault.

“Right now, if we have a serious sexual abuse case we have to fly the child to Anchorage,” said Gray. “It’s expensive and it’s traumatic.”

Kodiak’s CAC would train nurses through certification programs Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner and Sexual Assault Response Team (SART).

“Kodiak has a SART program, but because sexual assault cases have gone down, they have not been able to keep their certifications current,” said Harrington. “That sends a funny message because sexual assault still exists in the community.”

Providing culturally appropriate care is another goal of the center. Harrington said the CAC would try to include staff familiar with Filipino and Hispanic culture.

Mirror writer Sam Friedman can be reached via e-mail at sfriedman@kodiakdailymirror.com.