Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters

Child Abuse Program

Program Overview

In 1998, Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters assumed responsibility for the Hampton Roads Child Abuse Center. Since then, the Center has been renovated and is now home to the Child Abuse Program (CAP), the largest and most comprehensive program of its kind in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Unlike many of the diseases that CHKD physicians and nurses treat, there is no immunization or cure for the epidemic of child abuse. However, with proper diagnosis and treatment, children recover from their injuries and trauma, and the cycle of violence, which often recurs generation after generation, can be broken. Through this innovative program, which respects the abused child’s need for safety, dignity and privacy, the healing process begins.

Last year, more than 1,000 children were cared for at CHKD’s Child Abuse Program. These children came from every community of the Greater Hampton Roads area and represented all walks of life. Child abuse isn’t contained to one race or one socio-economic status; rather it cuts across all barriers. While the number of children referred to the Program has consistently increased every year, this increase cannot necessarily be attributed to an increased incidence of child abuse. Rather, the greater number of children being cared for and treated at the Program is due to a broadened awareness by investigative agencies involved in suspected cases of abuse to use the CAP as a resource.

Services provided at the Child Abuse Program:

§ Forensic Interviews

§ Extended Forensic Evaluations

§ Psychological Testing & Evaluations

§ Parenting Capacity Evaluations

§ Forensic Medical Evaluations

§ Sexual Abuse Medical Evaluations

§ Long Term Mental Health Therapy

§ Pediatric Forensic Nurse Examinations

§ Medical Evaluations for Children Entering Foster Care

Providing these services for the children of Hampton Roads who have been abused or neglected is essential to helping them heal and to stopping the cycle of violence. To do so however, requires substantial support from the community. Today, the program’s annual budget is approximately $1.8 million, and more than two-thirds of the services provided are not covered by insurance, leaving the hospital with a significant deficit each year. Further, most of the families who need the program can’t afford to pay for these specialty services out of pocket, and CHKD accepts all patients regardless of their ability to pay.

Future Satellite Program of the Child Abuse Program in Virginia Beach

In 2006, almost 3,000 children were involved in a report of child abuse or neglect in the city of Virginia Beach, almost one-third of all cases in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. Of those Hampton Roads children who were found to have actually been abused or neglected, 46 percent resided in Virginia Beach. These statistics confirm the critical need for the Child Abuse Program to expand into Virginia Beach. In doing so, the children and their families and the other professionals who are involved in investigating and prosecuting abuse cases will be able to access the same services they have come to rely on at the Child Abuse Program in Norfolk, but now closer to their homes.

The Child Abuse Program at CHKD’s Virginia Beach Health and Surgery Center will include all of the services outlined above. Because of anticipated growth in the number of children seen once the expansion has taken place, additional therapists and case managers will need to be hired. Providing families with confidential access to the Child Abuse Program is critical. Thus, a dedicated clinic has been designated on the second floor of the Health Center. It will include exam rooms, a forensic interview suite and evaluation rooms, plus a designated waiting room and registration area.