This is the recording of the "Safer Together: Deep Dive into Child/Animal Abuse, Cross-Reporting for Humane and Human Services" webinar presented on April 24, 2024. The webinar was hosted by Crisis Center North and the Keystone Link Coalition, and sponsored by the Richard King Mellon Foundation.
Thank you to presenters:
Claire Coughlin, Coordinator of the Animals and Interpersonal Violence program, and Safe Havens for Pets project, Animal Welfare Institute
Nikki Thompson, Chief Humane Society Police Officer, Bucks County SPCA
Why This Webinar?
An increasing number of states are requiring child and adult protective services caseworkers, social workers, counselors, and veterinarians to report suspected animal abuse, and humane and animal control officers to report suspected abuse of children and older adults. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania lags far behind the national movement recognizing that animal cruelty and other forms of family violence are linked, and that preventing one can prevent the others. This workshop is important because it will introduce you to compelling evidence Linking animal cruelty and neglect to child abuse, child sexual abuse and emotional trauma from witnessing animal abuse, which has been identified as an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). The speakers will introduce you to the concept, explain what you need to know about it, and show you how it’s being addressed elsewhere and what YOU can do about it.
Animal abuse frequently is an indicator and predictor of interpersonal, family, and community violence, particularly in domestic violence and child maltreatment scenarios. Significant numbers of women report that threats to their companion and farm animals prevent them from leaving abusive relationships. Children who perpetrate or witness animal cruelty are at risk of being victims themselves and/or future perpetrators of violence, with lifelong adverse emotional consequences. Cross-training and cross reporting among human services and animal protection agencies are necessary to create more effective species-spanning community collaboratives that prevent and prosecute these interlocking forms of family violence.
The Crisis Center North and the Keystone Link Coalition will host this virtual workshop to take a deep dive into child/animal abuse and its implications for human and humane services, family welfare agencies, prosecutors, law enforcement, and human and veterinary medicine. It will describe new strategies, public policy, research, and programs to prevent child and animal abuse and to respond to its child and animal victims. Our goal is to encourage policy and program opportunities and action to establish and enhance cross-training and cross-reporting processes at the local level. Claire Coughlin with the Animal Welfare Institute will kick off this seminar by addressing how witnessing animal abuse constitutes emotional abuse of children, and how to identify these situations and report to human services. Nikki Thompson with the Bucks County SPCA will showcase the strong collaborative effort that Bucks County humane and human services have developed, along with challenges the collaborative has addressed. Nikki will also explain in detail the collaborative model Bucks County has developed which may be duplicated throughout communities in Pennsylvania and other states.