Newberg Graphic Online

Juliette’s House assesses victims

Part seven of seven parts: A multi-part series looks at the incidents of sex crimes in the Newberg area, its causes, prosecution and treatment options

• By: Laurent Bonczijk  
• Published: 12/1/2009 3:49:12 PM

   For kids who may have been the victim of sex abuse the first stop in Yamhill County is typically Juliette’s House in McMinnville.
   The child abuse intervention center for Yamhill and Polk counties, Juliette’s House provides medical examination to children suspected of being the victims of sex abuse, it offers preventive programs and its employees are often times called into court to testify in sex abuse cases.
   Development director Francine Fiore said that the single largest type of cases they see are sex abuse, followed by physical abuse, and that while they serve children from birth to age 18 they most commonly encounter victims who are between 6 and 12 years old.
   “In essence it’s a medical office, but it looks like a living room,” said Kathleen Coleman, executive director.
   The children are given a full body exam just as they would if they walked into a pediatrician’s office. “It goes at the rate of speed that the child is comfortable with,” Coleman said. The reason for this is that the center doesn’t want to focus on the possible trauma or abuse and make the child feel different; by giving a full body exam at a deliberate pace they keep a more neutral stance. “It gives the child the opportunity to ask questions,” Fiore said.
   They spend time with the children before the exam to help them relax and they offer them a quilt and a stuffed animal. And if siblings come along they’ll receive quilts and stuffed animals as well to prevent the potential victim from feeling singled out. “It takes a morning or an afternoon,” Coleman said.
   The center gives medical assessments to roughly 150 children per year and talks to about three or four times that number. About 20 percent of the kids they see are from the greater Newberg area, Fiore said.
   Coleman said that while the center doesn’t turn people away, 99 percent of the children they examine have been referred to them by a law enforcement agency or the Department of Human Services. They also perform exams when a family doctor wants a second opinion. Fiore describes the center as “kind of a clearinghouse,” for sex abuse evaluation in the county.
   The center is financed in part by restitution paid by criminals as well as government and foundation grants, donations and by billing patients with insurance for some medical procedures. “Really we are funded mostly by the community,” Fiore said.
   With this kind of budget the center can’t afford to hire a physician on staff, but has developed relationships with county doctors who will perform the assessments. Fiore said the doctors who come in and examine the potential victims do so because they believe in Juliette’s House mission of supporting child abuse victims — the doctors could make much more money spending that time in their private practice. As part of the support, a Juliette’s House intern will follow up with individual families for up to one year after the medical exam took place.
   Besides providing child abuse assessment Juliette’s House teaches the Safe Kids Program to elementary school children from kindergarten to fifth grade. The program is designed to teach children in age appropriate ways how adults shouldn’t touch them and what to do in case it happens.
   “But you can’t put the whole burden of staying safe on kids,” Fiore said, adding that the center also teaches workshops to parents and school staff to recognize the signs of child sex abuse in victims. During the 2008-2009 school year Juliette’s House reached more than 4,000 elementary school children in Yamhill County.

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