Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 12, 1990 TAG: 9004120209
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
A countywide Child Abuse Investigative Task Force has been formed here, one of six Virginia localities working through the American Prosecutors Research Institute, an arm of the Alexandria-based National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse.
The cooperation has already saved one child's life and resulted in the arrest of three adults on suspicion of murder, Wythe County Sheriff Wayne Pike said Wednesday.
Three people being sought for a Kentucky homicide came to Wythe several months ago with a malnourished infant who was brought to Wythe County Community Hospital, he said. Hospital personnel alerted the county Department of Social Services, and that department called the Sheriff's Department.
"It was touch and go with the baby, and today the baby is healthy, in a new home and doing great," Pike said. The three adults are awaiting trial in Kentucky.
Funding for increased investigation and prosecution of child abuse has been provided through the federal Children's Justice and Assistance Act, said Francine C. Ecker, state children's justice act program coordinator. She said Virginia chose a statewide approach through an American Prosecutors Research Institute program.
Ecker pinpointed 40 localities in Virginia with high reports of child abuse, and six were chosen to take part in program development. Wythe and Wise counties in Southwest Virginia were among them. The others were the cities of Richmond and Portsmouth, the Culpeper-Rappahannock area and Gloucester County.
"Here in Wythe County, it's taken a very unusual turn in that the law enforcement cooperation became a major aspect," said Cabell C. Cropper, senior management specialist with the research institute. The approach allows whatever investigator is available from any law enforcement office to investigate an abuse case without squabbling over whose jurisdiction it is.
"We have no control over what our commitments are going to be at any given time," said Capt. Roy Fowler of the Wytheville Police Department, so the availability issue is important.
"I really believe this could be a model not only for Virginia but for people throughout the country," said Patricia A. Toth, research institute director. "I have not yet heard of it successfully being done in any other communities."
"We had relationships already built before this came about," said Wythe Social Services Director Mike Hall. "This just raised it to a different level. . . . We don't have any turf issues here. We're out to protect kids and hopefully decrease any trauma the children might experience" by being repeatedly questioned by different investigators about suspected abuse.
The institute and state representatives will be conferring today with Wise County task force members on their progress. Wise County has been able to enlist a doctor in its task force, Cropper said, which few localities have been able to do.
by CNB