WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Children's Alliance, an independent non-profit organization established in 1989, promotes healing and justice for child abuse victims in Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS,
Child sexual abuse occurs in every socio-economic group, every walk of life and every neighborhood, and although estimates of the occurrence of sexual abuse vary widely, many experts now estimate that one in every four women was sexually abused as a child, and for boys, the rate is estimated to be one in seven by age sixteen; and
WHEREAS, In Philadelphia, there are 2,100 reported cases of child sexual abuse each year; and
WHEREAS, The Children's Alliance accomplishes this mission at its facility by enabling police, child protective services social workers, prosecutors, medical and mental health professionals, and victim advocates to participate in a team interview process with the child victim and his or her family; and
WHEREAS, The strength of this process lies in the multi-disciplinary team approach and the Alliance's highly skilled, experienced child forensic or investigative interviewers who coordinate the team and facilitate the interview process in a neutral and objective manner; and
WHEREAS,
The Children's Alliance, as set forth in their goals, helps put the pieces together again by responding with care and concern to help children, to support families, to work closely with agencies that provide services and to be a resource for adults who care for children; now, therefore
BE IT NOW RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it recognizes, honors, celebrates, and thanks the Philadelphia Children's Alliance for its invaluable contributions to the City of Philadelphia.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Philadelphia Children's Alliance, further evidencing the sincere admiration and gratitude of this legislative body.
End