After seeing success with similar locations in the northern part of the county, the Madison County Sheriff’s office saw a need for child-friendly interview sites in Southern Madison County. Unlike an office setting, these sites would have age-appropriate surroundings to make alleged child victims more comfortable during interviews.
A Community Foundation grant was used to furnish two such child-friendly interview sites in the towns of Hamilton and Cazenovia. Interviews can now be held outside of an intimidating police station or home setting and instead conducted in an age-appropriate, furnished space. These locations now provide investigators and families with young abuse victims safe, child-friendly places within their community to build a rapport and discuss difficult issues.
“All children of alleged abuse are entitled to have a caring, competent and experienced response to their case, says Renee Smith-Rotondo, Madison County Sheriff’s Multi-Disciplinary Team Coordinator, “Our new interview sites improve our response while offering privacy and dignity to families in times of crisis.”
The Madison County Multi-Disciplinary Team was established in 2003 to provide a comprehensive, collaborative and culturally competent system response to allegations of child abuse. The Team employs a collaborative approach to the handling of child abuse chases at all stages of the case to reduce trauma to the child, provide consistent and quality services to the child and his or her family and increase offender accountability. Its goal is to have healthier children, adults and communities throughout Madison County