North Bay police, other agencies, create safe space for young victims of crime

The North Bay Police Service and several other agencies are providing youth a safe, trauma-informed place for them and their families when they’re affected by crime.

The Child and Youth Advocacy Centre (CYAC) is a partnership between police, Children's Aid Society (CAS), Victim Services of Nipissing District and other agencies to allow children to tell police what's happened in a safe space.

"The old way of doing things for children having to attend the police station can be very intimidating," said CYAC program coordinator Alicia Cote.

"The police station can be very loud and distracting and often for various different reasons, people are coming and going that might not be conducive for children."

When they arrive at the facility, the young person will conduct an interview with Children's Aid Society team members and a police officer s dressed in normal clothes and in a safe space, allowing them to avoid telling a traumatic story several times.

"When there's an abuse investigation, those investigations are all done jointly with police and Children’s Aid Society," said Gisele Hebert, CAS executive director.

After the interview with police, other agencies step in to help. The centre has therapy dog services available with wraparound supports, complete with counselling.

"So our staff members meet with each family and child who enter the centre and we provide them a tour and help answer their questions about the investigation process," said Kathleen Jodouin, executive director of Victim Services of Nipissing District.

The CYAC has its own family room and since opening has served more than 400 children. The youngest was 18 months old.

Police said having the space makes it a lot more comfortable for children to talk to officers.

"When I first went up to major crime, we didn't have this facility,” said Det. Const. Erin Pemberton.

“So we would do the interviews at the police station. A child and their parent would come in and sit in the front lobby with everybody else."

Through funding, police officers received specific training for child-forensic interviewing.

Officials said the next step is looking at ways to allow children to offer court testimony out of the facility to avoid trips to the courthouse.