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September 13, 2004
Center offers child refuge
Matthew Meier
Contributing Writer
Every 22 minutes a child is reportedly abused or neglected in Arizona.
That adds up to about 65,000 children per year in Arizona experiencing some form of abuse, according to the web site for the Child Crisis Center of the East Valley.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation, a Baltimore-based children’s welfare watchdog group, ranks Arizona 45th on children’s overall well being.
What can be done to stop the cycle?
Established in 1981, the Child Crisis Center of the East Valley has been a refuge of last resort for children who have been abused sexually, psychologically or physically. According to Jackie Bink, community relations director for the Child Crisis Center, 500 to 600 such children pass through the center every year.
The center offers family counseling and parenting classes to prevent the abuse before it happens.
The program began with meager resources but ample aspirations
The organization has since grown into a $3.6 million per year project with 40 beds according to the center’s web site.
A wide spectrum of recognizable Arizonans support the center by serving on its advisory board: Gov. Janet Napolitano, Tex Earnhardt, Edward Basha III, and Tempe Mayor Neil Giuliano, to name a few.
Even with the clout provided by the advisory board members, the Crisis Center’s web site states that individual, lesser-known volunteers are the “heart” of the operation.
Bink said the center is always looking for volunteers, although the selection process is difficult because of the sensitivities of working with abused children.
Volunteers handle much of the daily care of children at the center, including bringing some of them back up to the learning level of their peers. According to the center’s web site, many children arrive underdeveloped for their age because of neglect.
The Child Crisis Center also employs full-time workers who have master’s degrees in fields like social work and counseling.
They work closely with families who have been through the East Valley family court system, as well as those who come on their own to use family counseling services.
What can MCC students do to help?
If students choose to volunteer with the children, there are jobs at the center that don’t require a graduate degree or higher level of expertise. Volunteers may come in a few nights a week to red bedtime stories. Some of them work at the center’s thrift store that offers low-priced clothing and earns money for the shelter. Tutoring the children year-round is a function that MCC students also might excel at.
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