Child Advocacy Center

HAGERSTOWN -- A delegation from China's National Population and Family Planning Commission was in Hagerstown Thursday to study how the United States manages family planning and social services for children. The visit was part of a two-day seminar coordinated by Kaplan College in Hagerstown and included tours of Washington County Hospital and Safe Place, a child advocacy center in the Walnut Street Community Health Center. Friday, the group is scheduled to visit Mont Alto Family Practice in Pennsylvania and Manito, an organization that provides alternative education for youths with behavioral problems and learning disabilities.

North Hagerstown High School art teacher Brandy Merchant was honored Tuesday for her work in painting murals in the newly renovated and expanded space in Safe Place for Washington County Child Advocacy Center. Merchant was recognized during Tuesday's Washington County Board of Education meeting. Safe Place is a child advocacy center that responds to the investigation, treatment and prosecution of child abuse cases. The victims of those crimes are in the Safe Place office daily.

The Oct. 14 Safe Place Child Abuse and Family Violence Summit at Hagerstown Community College, sponsored by the Washington County Child Advocacy Center, drew a crowd of 154 people. The summit topics included child exploitation investigations, physical child abuse identification, bite-mark recognition, investigating child sex crimes, interviewing children with disabilities and documentation caveats.   “We're proud that this summit was able to cover such a diverse range of child-abuse maltreatment topics,” said Safe Place Forensic Nurse Joyce Williams, who helped coordinate the summit.

Abracadabra won't make child abuse disappear, but the folks at Safe Place Washington County Child Advocacy Center hope a magic show fundraiser will help raise money and awareness. The fourth annual Family Magic Show is scheduled for Saturday at The Maryland Theatre, in downtown Hagerstown. The show is a fundraiser for Safe Place, a child advocacy center in Hagerstown. The show's producer and emcee, Russell Gary Smith -- whose stage name is RG Smith -- will return, and he's brought with him a traveling team of performers to end a six-city magic show tour throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Students who created a public service announcement for the Child Advocacy Center, known as "Safe Place," were honored during Thursday's Washington County Board of Education meeting. Superintendent Elizabeth Morgan said the students' public service announcement was meant to raise awareness about the rights of children regarding child abuse and about the services of the advocacy center. The students who were honored from Washington County Technical High School's digital communications class were James D. Banks, Dara M. Gamby, Bryant M. Gidich, K.C. Marquart, Ashley E. McCallister, Celeste M. Morris, Amanda E. Spigler and Stefan A. G. Sterling.

On Dec. 17, Hagerstown Rotary Club — Sunrise distributed proceeds from its ninth annual dinner and auction held at Elks Lodge 378 on Oct. 31.   This year’s event was a Halloween-themed party complete with costumes and music provided by the Prophets of the Abstract Truth.   A total of $38,000 was raised and distributed between auction partners, including the American Red Cross of Washington County, $8,950 and Friends of SafePlace, Child Advocacy Center of Washington County, $7,850.

During the month of March, two fundraisers were held to support the Washington County Child Advocacy Center, also known as The Safe Place, at the Walnut Street Medical Center in Hagerstown. On March 11, the Home Builders Association of Washington County hosted the third annual benefit concert and auction at Hagerstown Community College in support of the Child Advocacy Center. The concert featured local recording artist Tori Anderson and Possum Holler and nationally known recording artist Exile.

About a dozen cases of juveniles sexting — a crime in which a young person can be both victim and perpetrator — have been investigated in Washington County in the past three years. While only a couple of cases of sexting — disseminating nude or pornographic images on cell phones — have resulted in teenagers going through the juvenile justice system, it is a crime that can come back to haunt them years later, said Detective Shane Blankenship of the Hagerstown Police Department.

gregs@herald-mail.com One of the interview rooms in the Department of Social Services' Safe Place Child Advocacy Center is designed for its small clients. The red two-cushion couch is no more than 3 feet wide and the blue foam chair is dwarfed by a 6-foot-tall police officer. The stuffed animal on the counter near the two-way mirror, under the discreet security camera, peers lazily through glued-on eyes. This bright room, nestled in a Washington County Hospital annex building on Walnut Street, is where some of Washington County's darkest conversations occur, but it also represents a growing trend in dealing with young victims of violence.

A child advocacy center in Washington County may become a reality if area police, prosecutors and social workers have their say. "This would be a safe, central place for sexually abused children that is child-friendly," said Stephanie Andrews, a social worker with the Washington County Department of Social Services. In Huntsville, Ala., it's called The Little House. "At such a place, a child victim could be interviewed just once by everybody ... in a quiet, safe place," Andrews said.

We should never disagree with the word of God To the editor: Yes, I love gays and lesbians. God loves them, too. But I do not believe they have the right to marriage, be it civil or otherwise. Nor do I believe they have the right to the same benefits as heterosexual couples. I truly believe the reason for the problems we are having in the world today is that people who call themselves Christians, and even some churches, are compromising with the Bible and world affairs.

The kind of uninhibited cheers preteen girls typically reserve for celebrity heartthrobs erupted Friday night as 12 area bachelors paraded through an audience of about 200 people, most of whom were women anxiously awaiting a chance to win a date. The second annual Charity Bachelor Auction, hosted by Friends of Safe Place, was held at BPO Elks Lodge No. 378, where the highest bidder paid $800 for a date with 34-year-old Jeffrey Butts of Hagerstown. The first bachelor up for bid, 27-year-old Arnold Martin III, of Martinsburg, W.Va., topped out at $250.

Don't forget that this year's Walk and 5K Run to End Child Abuse will be held Saturday morning. Activity will center around Widmeyer Park, where there will be food, fun and festivities for participants. Registration begins at 8 a.m. for runners and 9 a.m. for walkers. Participants can register in advance on line at http://walktoendchildabuse.weebly.com/. The Maryland and West Virginia chapters of Bikers Against Child Abuse will be on hand to give out information. Their motorcycles will be on display for children to admire and sit on.  Additional activities include: CHIPS, or Children's Identification System, inflatable bounce, a balloon launch, educational displays, T-shirts, raffles, beverages and treats.  All proceeds from the event will benefit local children through the Child Advocacy Center in Hagerstown.  The event also helps the families of Bella Appel and Justice Myers to celebrate the memory of the two Washington County children who lost their lives through child abuse.

A man who shot his 3-year-old son in the face and head with a BB gun was sentenced to one year in jail after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree child abuse in Washington County Circuit Court. John William Wilfong Jr., 24, of 507 W. Washington St., Apt. 4, Hagerstown, had also been charged with first- and second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and neglect of a child, but those charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement, Assistant State's Attorney Brett Wilson said.

People appeared to be cheery as they unwrapped packets of blue ribbon Sunday at University Park in downtown Hagerstown. Youngster Lucky Brown pulled on a string, with Lacey Sellers holding the other end, turning the string of ribbon into a beautiful blue bow. Dozens of people helped make piles of bows that they then tied around parking meter poles, trees, and other poles along West and East Washington Street as a reminder that April is Child...

More than 1,000 children and their families came through the Safe Place Child Advocacy Center to receive treatment for abuse last year. Safe Place Executive Director Mooch Mutchler said the high abuse rate was one of the reasons the organization held its 6th Annual Family Evening of Comedy Saturday night at The Maryland Theatre in downtown Hagerstown. He said he hoped the event, which cost $20 per ticket, would raise close to $7,500. "It helps with all kinds of operating expenses," Mutchler said.

The Oct. 14 Safe Place Child Abuse and Family Violence Summit at Hagerstown Community College, sponsored by the Washington County Child Advocacy Center, drew a crowd of 154 people. The summit topics included child exploitation investigations, physical child abuse identification, bite-mark recognition, investigating child sex crimes, interviewing children with disabilities and documentation caveats.   “We're proud that this summit was able to cover such a diverse range of child-abuse maltreatment topics,” said Safe Place Forensic Nurse Joyce Williams, who helped coordinate the summit.

It was more than 10 years in the making and in May, Safe Place, Washington County’s child advocacy center, celebrated 10 years of serving children and families in Washington County. David A. Engle, director of Washington County Department of Social Services, headed up a team that was the driving force behind the project. “We first applied on Feb. 20, 1991, to get a child advocacy center in Washington County,” Engle said of a $63,000 grant request to the state of Maryland’s Department of Human Resources.

About a dozen cases of juveniles sexting — a crime in which a young person can be both victim and perpetrator — have been investigated in Washington County in the past three years. While only a couple of cases of sexting — disseminating nude or pornographic images on cell phones — have resulted in teenagers going through the juvenile justice system, it is a crime that can come back to haunt them years later, said Detective Shane Blankenship of the Hagerstown Police Department.