Pasco Kids First

Learning to recognize the signs of child abuse is a critical first step in knowing when to report suspected abuse.

Pasco-Hernando State College and Pasco Kids First Inc., hosted a child abuse awareness seminar on April 20 for about 30 people. The seminar was free and open to the community, students, faculty and staff.

The “Stop the Abuse” seminar was part of the Summer 2017 Community Awareness Series. The next seminar will be on skin cancer awareness on May 24 from 11 a.m. to noon at PHSC’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, at 2727 Mansfield Blvd, in Building B, Room 203.

Staff members from Pasco Kids First child protection team and trauma therapy team discussed tools and resources to help victims of child abuse and how to recognize when child abuse is happening.

There’s no doubt that child abuse is an issue in Florida. A hotline to report suspected child abuse gets thousands of calls every year in the state.

Many of those attending the seminar are nursing students at the college.

“You’ll be faced with a lot of different scenarios,” said Natalie Epo, associate dean for academic affairs and retention services at the Porter Campus.

Data shows that children from birth to age 5 are at the highest risk of death from child abuse. Across the country, five children die every day from child abuse.

Telltale signs of abuse can be as obvious as a pattern of cigarette burns, or less so, such as bruising that is less noticeable and harder to categorize as abuse.

“If you see bruises on a child under age 5, those are the most concerning,” said Jon Wisenbaker, program manager for Pasco Kids First child protection team.

Pasco Kids First’s child protection and trauma teams work with the protection investigators at the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. They do assessments on physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and high-risk cases. Referrals are made by child protective investigators or law enforcement, but can’t be made directly by the general public.

Not every reported injury is due to child abuse, however.

“Kids do get accidental injuries all the time,” Wisenbaker said.  “That’s where we come into the picture to make that decision.”

The location and pattern of bruises can be telling, said Julie Nadkarni, pediatric nurse practitioner with Pasco Kids First’s child protection team.

Bruising, especially pattern bruising, on the inner thigh, upper arms, buttocks and sides of the face, ears and neck can be signs of abuse, Nadkarni said.

Bruises behind a child’s ear generally aren’t seen.

“When they fall, their ears don’t typically hit the ground,” she added.

Nadkarni showed slides of children with clear signs of abuse, including ligature marks, cigarette burns and scalded feet.

Bite marks, particularly by adults, are often associated with sexual abuse, she said.

Pasco Kids First also sees children suffering from neglect and malnutrition.

The mission of Pasco Kids First, however, is to keep families together, if possible.

“The goal is always to strengthen the family because overall that is where a child is going to do the best,” Nadkarni said.

Studies support that view, said Wisenbaker.

When children are removed, they are more likely to live with a relative or family friend than in a foster home, he said.

Helping victims and their families deal with abuse, and recover from trauma, is part of the mission at Pasco Kids.

Miranda Hager, trauma therapist with Pasco Kids First, counseled more than 280 clients last year. About 80 percent were victims of sexual abuse; 10 percent physical abuse; and 10 percent other types of trauma.

Children who have been abused can react to abuse by becoming aggressive or withdrawn. They make have difficulty sleeping, problems at school, increasing stomachaches and headaches and lack motivation.

Lexy, a survivor of child sex abuse, is one of Hager’s clients. She spoke at the seminar about her yearlong experience of abuse at age 15 by an older male friend of the family.

What happened over many months was a pattern of grooming, typical of sex offenders, Hager said.

Children are targeted over many months as the sexual predator tries to create a special friendship, giving them gifts and being available to them. “It’s a slow process of pulling the child away from friends and family,” Hager said.

For information, visit PascoKidsFirst.org.

To report suspected child abuse, neglect or abandonment, call the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-(800)-962-2873, or fax to (800) 914-0004.

Revised May 5, 2017