SungateKids co-hosts conference on working with developmentally disabled victims

National Children's Alliance
Denver, CO
Apr 16, 2010
11:00am

In honor of Child Abuse Awareness Month SungateKids and its partners – The Arc of Aurora, The Aurora Police Department and arc Thrift Stores – are hosting a conference on Friday, April 16th, that will focus on supporting developmentally disabled victims of child abuse. The conference, hosted by the Colorado Community College System at Lowry, will also kick-off Victims’ Remembrance Week (April 19th – 23rd) and will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 1061 Akron Way, Denver, CO 80230.

This conference will provide information to help improve Colorado’s systems’ response to crime victims with developmental disabilities. The featured speaker will be Bob Laurino, Acting Essex County (NJ) Prosecutor and lead prosecutor on the Glen Ridge sexual assault case, where a teenage girl with developmental disabilities was sexually abused by a group of high school athletes. Mr. Laurino was the subject of the book Our Guys by Bernard Lefkowitz and served as a consultant to Robert Greenwald Productions for the 1999 ABC-TV movie Our Guys: Outrage in Glen Ridge, which was based upon his case.

Other featured speakers include: Det. Del Matticks, CIT, HNT, Crimes Against Children Unit, Aurora Police Department; Nancy Bowden, Director of Advocacy, The Arc of Aurora; Sgt. Joe Young, CIT, Crimes Against Children Unit, Aurora Police Department; Lisa Cesario, Forensic Interviewer, SungateKids; Douglas Miles, Attorney Advisor, Western Region – Aequitas: The Prosecutors’ Resource on Violence Against Women and former Chief Deputy District Attorney, Office of the District Attorney, 4th Judicial District, Colorado; J.P. Moore, Chief Deputy District Attorney, Office of the District Attorney, 17th Judicial District, Colorado; Officer Nicole Sundine, CIT, Lone Tree Police Department; Krista Flanningan, JD, Director of Community Partnerships, Office of the District Attorney, 17th Judicial District, Colorado; Sheilah Michaels, Advocate, The Arc of Aurora; Terese Morse-Aguilar, Resource Specialist, Gateway Battered Women’s Shelter; Karen L. Nerger, RN, BSN, SANE, Coordinator at Medical Center of Aurora; Lori Ridgeway, Ph.D., Intercept Program, Aurora Mental Health Center; Carole O’Shea, Victim Services Supervisor, Aurora Police Department; and Darla Stuart, Executive Director, The Arc of Aurora.

A developmental disability includes diagnoses like autism, Down syndrome, Fragile X, and often finds those it affects to be among the nearly 10.7 million people aged 6 and over who need personal assistance with one or more activities of daily living. Studies have indicated that children with developmental disabilities because of their reliance on assistance were at twice the risk of physical and sexual abuse (Crosse et al., 1993) and at a 1.7 percent higher risk of maltreatment of all kinds (Westat, 1993) than children without such disabilities.

For more information on the Conference, please visit www.bit.ly/responsiveresponders or contact Diana Goldberg at 303-550-5169 or Diana.goldberg@sungatekids.org

For more information on Child Abuse Awareness Month, please visit www.nationalchildrensalliance.org.

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SungateKids is a Colorado based 501c3 nonprofit agency serving Colorado's 18th Judicial District which includes Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln Counties. Established in 1995, SungateKids provides families with hope and healing through the use of nationally recognized forensic interviewers to help children safely reveal the truth about a crime. Each year SungateKids serves more than 1,000 children and their families through its services. www.sungatekids.org

National Children’s Alliance (NCA) is a national association dedicated to helping local communities respond to allegations of child abuse in ways that are effective and efficient and put the needs of child victims of abuse first. As the accrediting body for the over 700 Child Advocacy Centers around the country, NCA provides training, financial support, technical assistance, leadership, national advocacy and access to current research findings on a national level to children’s advocacy centers around the country as well as numerous developing centers, multidisciplinary teams and child abuse professionals. As the national authority on multidisciplinary approaches to supporting child victims of abuse, NCA’s purpose is to empower local communities to provide comprehensive, coordinated and compassionate services to victims of child abuse. www.nationalchildrensalliance.org