Recognizing and honoring the Philadelphia Children's Alliance and the Philadelphia Department of Human Services for their collaborative commitment to bring healing and justice to victims of child sexual abuse in Philadelphia and declaring April 2022 to be Child Abuse Prevention Month in the City of Philadelphia.

WHEREAS, For the past 32 years, the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance and the Philadelphia Department of Human Services have advocated for a team-based approach, built cooperative relationships, introduced efficiencies into the system to provide rapid response, and effectively changed how abused children are served and cared for in Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Children’s Alliance is a national best standards model for peer agencies nationwide and leads the National Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (NRCAC), which provides training and technical assistance for state chapters, children’s advocacy centers, and multidisciplinary teams in nine states in the Northeastern United States; and

WHEREAS, Since 2013, the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance, the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, Philadelphia Police Special Victims Unit, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children have operated a co-located facility within the Seventh Councilmanic District to provide a victim-centered response to all children in Philadelphia who have been sexually abused, providing justice and healing for sexually abused children and their families, ending the cycle of abuse, protecting children who have experienced sex trafficking, and improving the quality of abuse investigations; and

WHEREAS, During Fiscal Year 2021, despite the constraints of Covid-19, the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance responded to 1,744 reports of child sexual abuse; conducted 1,041 forensic interviews; supplied various support services to 1,241 caregivers; referred 758 children for mental health therapy to its eighteen mental health partners; provided on-site and virtual counseling therapy to 120 children; and conducted 330 on-site medical exams; making it clear that the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance is meeting an incredible need in Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Children’s Alliance is dedicated to community partnerships and has founded the Neighborhood Partners in Prevention Project in the Seventh Councilmanic District, coordinating with leaders in housing, public health, justice, education and to break the cycle of child sexual abuse and strengthen family networks and co-leads the Philadelphia’s Juvenile Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition, a group representing more than 50 agencies across the City working to eradicate commercialized child sex trafficking; and

WHEREAS, The staff of Philadelphia Children’s Alliance has gone above and beyond the call of duty, never closing the organization’s doors to children and their families in Philadelphia, even in the face of a global pandemic, but instead adapted new technologies to interview, counsel and support victims, along with providing new telehealth services; and

WHEREAS, April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month and the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance, with the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, recognize this month by promoting increased knowledge of the resources available to parents and caregivers to prevent child maltreatment and promote well-being; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED,

That the Council of the City of Philadelphia, Hereby recognizes, congratulates, honors, and celebrates the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance and the Philadelphia Department of Human Services for their commitment to promoting healing and justice for victims of child sexual abuse and their families in Philadelphia and declaring April 2022 to be Child Abuse Prevention Month in the City of Philadelphia. We extend the sincere respect and admiration of this legislative body and thank you for your organizations’ contributions to better the lives of our City’s youth.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance

as evidence of the sincere respect and admiration of this legislative body.

End