Episode 77 Sophia Herron Sanders - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Sophia Herron Sanders, Director of Child Life & Community Engagement at the Gingerbread House, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:

 

0:34 1. Sophia, you are the director of child life & community engagement and a forensic interviewer at the Gingerbread House, one of our community’s oldest and most important nonprofit organizations.

 

Opened in 1998, the Gingerbread House Children’s Advocacy Center is focused on child abuse advocacy. You serve children 2 to 18 who have experienced any sort of abuse, sexual or physical, or been a witness to any sort of violent crime.

 

I read where one of your employees once said each case you see is very different but the trauma is real.

 

Since most of us are unaware of the process, take me through some of the initial steps of what a case may look like.

 

5:32 2. The Gingerbread House operates to lessen the trauma experienced by child abuse victims while criminal allegations are being investigated and to provide support for the child victim throughout the investigation, prosecution, and treatment phases of a case.

 

Sticking with maybe the same case that you outlined above, take me through some of what the next steps will look like after the child has first come to the Gingerbread House, received the forensic interview and the investigation of the case has begun.

 

9:08 3. You once said,

 

“An opportunity arose where I could put my talents as a child life specialist here at the Gingerbread House and help other children who had probably gone through something similar or an abusive situation, and I can make them feel as comfortable or as heard as I felt when I was 13.”

 

Would you mind sharing a little about your first interactions with the Gingerbread House?

 

15:10 4. Before the Gingerbread House, maybe convictions were around a 5% rate in these kinds of abuse cases. Now with the Gingerbread House's assistance, convictions are around the 95% rate.

 

Can you talk about this?

 

19:21 5. There are 13 children’s advocacy centers throughout the state and of the 13 in the nine parish area that you serve, the Gingerbread House has the largest case load in Louisiana. I know the Gingerbread House is heavily involved in prevention education and training. Talk to me about some of the work you do in the area of prevention.

 

23:31 6. The Gingerbread House is also a critical resource for the families in our community. I read the following:

 

“When the families first come in for the interview, you can hear the pain in their voices, the hurt, they’re scared, they have no idea what to expect. We’re here to provide that support and that comfort to the families and let them know that everything will be okay.”

 

Can you talk to me about some of the family advocacy work at the Gingerbread House?