BENTONVILLE -- A community forum on child abuse drew only a few people Thursday night, but at least one official still was pleased by the event.
"I cannot tell you how affirming it is to sit here tonight," said Beverly Engle, executive director of the Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County. "Ten to 15 years ago, these discussions were not taking place."
Maurice Isaiah Torres
Maurice Isaiah Torres, a 6-year-old from Bella Vista, died last week. The Arkansas Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide. His parents — Mauricio Torres, 45, and Cathy Torres, 43 — were arrested Monday on charges they raped and killed their son. The boy was home-schooled, but before that was a student at Ambassadors for Christ Academy in Bentonville during the 2013-14 school year, according to David Welshenbaugh, school administrator. Welshenbaugh released a statement Thursday saying the school is grieving the boy’s death.
“During his time at the academy, (the Department of Human Services) was hot-lined with our concerns, and we are in full cooperation with all appropriate authorities at this time,” the statement read. “Because this is an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further.”
Source: Staff Report
Engle was part of a six-person panel that discussed the issue and answered questions from parents and media. Michael Poore, superintendent of the Bentonville School District, moderated the forum.
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The forum had been planned for months but happened to take place just three days after the arrest of a Bella Vista couple on charges they raped and killed their 6-year-old son.
The district hosted a similar forum last year in the wake of abuse allegations surrounding a former employee. That forum, in contrast to Thursday's event, drew enough people to fill the Bentonville High School lecture hall where it was held.
Child abuse is a "serious problem," Poore said, adding Bentonville had 90 cases of child abuse reported last year. Benton County sees an average of between 150 and 170 reports of child abuse per month, said Jim Swearingen, an investigator for the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
One in three girls and one in six boys suffer some kind of abuse. Improved education has led to more children coming forward with reports of the abuse they've suffered, Engle said.
Children reported to have been victims of abuse in Benton County are typically interviewed at the Children's Advocacy Center in Little Flock, where forensic interviewers talk to the children in a neutral setting to understand what abuse happened, if any.
A program implemented this school year on a pilot basis at three Benton County schools -- Thomas Jefferson Elementary and Ruth Barker Middle schools in Bentonville and Joe Mathias Elementary School in Rogers -- teaches kids about keeping their bodies safe, said Rita Farrell, director of education at the Children's Advocacy Center.
The program reached 1,300 children in its first year and prompted 19 of those kids to report abuse they had suffered, Farrell said.
Diana Berry, a counselor at Thomas Jefferson, said a critical part of the program is making children understand why they were being taught to report abuse.
"If you're ever put in this situation, here's what you do," Berry said. "I think we have empowered the children to take those skills and knowledge to be their own best friend."
Swearingen said parents often treat their children the way their own parents treated them. Sometimes that treatment requires intervention by the state.
"So we're trying to break the cycle," Swearingen said.
Both Swearingen and Dahrron Moss of the Bentonville Police Department explained how they respond to reports of abuse. Those reports often come through a state hotline.
School employees are mandated reporters of suspected child abuse. Berry said that doesn't mean they have to prove anything.
"We're just reporting our suspicions," Berry said.
Poore pointed out staff members aren't obligated to go to their supervisors before making a report.
Engle said all adults should consider themselves mandated reporters. That goes for whether they suspect abuse in a child they see in their neighborhood, at church or at the store, she said.
Chrissie Eggers of Centerton attended the forum with her husband and daughter. She asked Swearingen how many child-abuse cases "fall through the cracks."
Swearingen didn't directly answer the question, but said, "If one case falls through the cracks, it's too many."
Eggers said after the forum she attended because she's passionate about children.
"Our children are our greatest asset. That's who we're going to leave to the world," she said.
NW News on 04/10/2015