Bivona Child Advocacy Center Educates Northwood Elementary

Bivona Child Advocacy Center Educates Kids

At the Bivona center social workers, police and county child protection staff work together on investigations of child abuse.  Also, as evidenced in Northwood Elementary, age-appropriate lessons are brought into schools by a team of instructors.  This is a sensitive topic because most children are abused by those they know, trust and even love.

On March 26^th, 2021, Bivona Child Advocacy Center came into Northwood Elementary, in Hilton Central school district, with educational curriculum about child sexual abuse and teaching them about their bodies.  Deb Rosen Bivona Executive Director said, “We are teaching children that their bodies are their own and that they are in charge of who gets to touch their body, look at their body, take pictures of their body.”  Deb Rosen said, “the initial disclosure was basically immediately after (a curriculum session at Northwood).”

Shortly after law enforcement notified the school district that Kirk Ashton may have molested a boy.  Just days later the investigation took a turn, and it came forward that there were allegations that Ashton may have molested a total of 26 boys on school grounds.  These boys were between the ages of 8 and 12.  Authorities have said that without the educational program brought to the school by Bivona Child Advocacy Center the arrest of Kirk Ashton may not have occurred.

 Bivona also conducted the forensic interviews.  It is their goal not to get disclosure, but to find out the facts of what did or did not happen.  “Forensic interviews are a big deal.  It’s not just a conversation.  It’s not therapy,” said Associate Director of Bivona Anne Potter.  “In order for a child to get into a forensic interview, that means that there has been some kind of outcry, some type of disclosure that got them to Bivona. This is going to be a piece of evidence.  So we’re trying to prepare this case as an evidentiary piece of information that will move forward in the court system.  It has to be done correctly and it has to be done according to protocol.  Otherwise, the case could get botched.” (Wright, 2021)

“I feel strongly that we would not be here if it were not for the (Bivona) educational program,” Assistant District Attorney Sara VanStrydonck said at a news conference after Ashton’s arrest.

“Unfortunately, even tragically, the threat that children face is not from strangers,” Rosen said. “The threat that children face is from people that they know and people that they know very well, and they trust. That’s a difficult reality for parents and children to grapple with together.”

Ashton’s arrest has brought attention to Bivona CAC like no other criminal case has and they have been involved with many.