Each year the Domestic Violence Taskforce hosts a child abuse and domestic violence conference in recognition of October as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
Experts are brought to the conference to share knowledge with teachers, counselors, case managers, clergy and even law enforcement. This year the conference was held along the edge of the city at Fellowship Church on Friday, Oct. 6. According to the Community Resource Council executive director and conference organizer Rebeca Pacheco, the 19th annual conference stems from different community partners, such as the Haven House and others, which advocate for abuse victims.
“We (agencies) all come together within the task force to plan the conference each year,” she said during an interview at the conference.
“We usually bring in speakers, who will do sessions specifically about domestic violence issues. And then we try to also have speakers that speak to child abuse prevention so that we can cover both of those topics during the conference.”
Pacheco said the topics of the conference do vary, due to new people that may come into the conference, but the conference does adhere to some basic concepts.
“We will bring in speakers from around the state to talk about emerging trends,” she said. “Some of the cutting edge information, so it’s not just necessarily Butler County, it’s the entire state of Missouri.”
The conference attendees are mostly professionals who serve people in the area such as social workers, children’s division workers, school social workers, behavioral health specialists, foster care providers and many others serving the Butler County community.
Pacheco said one of the highlights of this conference was Catherine Vannier, a special victims resource prosecutor from the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services.
“And then this afternoon, we are looking at two sessions about the emerging trends in child advocacy and generational trauma,” Pacheco said.
During her keynote address, Vannier pointed towards something she called the inaccurate assessment of risk. She also mentioned poly-victims, victims who have been victimized over and over again.
“You have to look how it accumulates as the aging process continues and accelerates the aging process, and leaves us then with greater care levels at the end of life as well,” she said.
Vannier also touched upon the subject of user-friendliness especially as it pertains to the court system, the police system, and other resources.
“We are not a user-friendly system when it comes to dealing with abuse and accountability,” she said. “We talk to victims and families and some of the worst times of their lives. And we ask them to relive it over and over and over again. And as much as we can acknowledge that — that this is hard, and that this is tough, and that we’ll be here to support them — the more we as a community can hold those abusers accountable.”
Vannier also highlighted the importance of family justice centers, as they essentially provide multiple services to clients.
“The most successful one we have is in Springfield,” she said to the conference attendees while encouraging them to tour the facility.
“This idea that we put Headstart, we put children’s division, we put the police department, we put the child advocacy center, we put them all in the same place so that we don’t ask victims to go to 14 different places to get services.”
Jennifer Hill of Haven House is a civil court advocate and 34-year veteran in her profession. She said the reasons she attends the annual conference are to network with other agencies such as the probation and parole departments and to make contacts within her field. Hill also mentioned that she wanted to learn about other tools that other divisions are utilizing as well.
“It’s always good for me to learn more about the things I could do to prepare victims for court,” she said. “Working with women and children of domestic violence and sexual violence is tough.”
Hill said working with victims is not just a one and done deal. “It’s from the time you meet them,” she said. “Not only will I work with them, I will work with their children as well.”
Hill said the rewards of working with women are part of her motivation to continue her position.
“Because when you see them, and they come up to you and say, hey, I may have not left when I needed to leave, but every time I saw you, I took away some information,” she said. “And I still go by that information. I still have cards that you’ve given me or books that you’ve given me.”