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Vol. 43 • No. 27
APRIL 22, 2022
How Liberty House fights child abuse
BY CHARLES GLENN
Of the Keizertimes
Despite the passage of the 2008 Karly’s Law
– named for a 3-year old Corvallis girl who died
after her abuse went unreported – child abuse is
on the rise in Oregon. The Child Welfare Division
at the Oregon Department of Human Services
(ODHS), who manages the Oregon Child Abuse
Hotline (ORCAH), claims they received more
than 80,000 reports of abuse and neglect in 2021,
up 8% from 2020.
Liberty House is the designated Children’s
Advocacy Center (CAC) for Marion and Polk
counties – one of 22 CACs in Oregon and one
of more than 900 across the country. In obser-
vance of April as Child Abuse Prevention month,
Keizer City Council invited representatives from
Salem Liberty House to speak about their work
and the challenges they are facing at the April 18
council meeting.
“There are three key areas in what we do:
Clinical assessment, health and wellness –
including mental health – and prevention," said
Liberty House Deputy Executive Director Bruce
Anderson. “We also facilitate the multi-disci-
plinary team established in statute, which brings
together Liberty House, county child welfare
services, DHS, law enforcement and our district
attorneys.”
Anderson said caseloads have been increas-
ing at a high rate in recent years.
“We’ve seen a double-digit increase in our
case load over the last two years – with rates more
than 30% higher than they were in 2019,” he said.
Anderson’s numbers match what has been
happening across the country in the last decade.
According a study done in 2013 by scholars at the
National Crime Victims Research and Treatment
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Center and published in the Journal of Family
Medicine and Primary Care – about one in every
10 American children will be sexually abused
before the age of 18.
Anderson said Liberty House is particularly
well-equipped to meet this challenge.
“We support children and families in getting
the help they need through fewer appointments
and more coordination – and our staff supports
families both in English and Spanish,” he said.
“We’re child-focused, so that the child – our
patient – is guiding things forward, not us.”
He said they are staffed with medical profes-
sionals in a specially-trained area of pediatrics
who can do assessments of children from new-
born to 18 years of age in cases where abuse is
suspected.
“Our staff is trained to identify subtle aspects
of child abuse that sometimes get overlooked,”
he said.
Through their health and wellness program,
Liberty House can help children cope with the
trauma they experienced. Anderson said the
program can even help adults who experienced
abuse as children.
Liberty House Prevention Program Director
Kyle Tarr also spoke to the council, explaining
the role of prevention and the philosophy behind
their work.
“We utilize Darkness to Light as our founda-
tional training,” said Tarr, referring to the a non-
profit which sponsors research and education
into child sex abuse prevention. Darkness to
Light funded the study cited above which deter-
mined one in every 10 American children suffer
from child abuse and they provide tools to CACs
all over the country.
“It’s the only national program that’s proven
to increase knowledge, improve attitudes, and
COURTESY PHOTO bhckids.org
Salem's Liberty House, located on 4th St. NE in Salem, is the designated Child Advocacy
Center for Marion and Polk Counties.
FILE PHOTO
change child protective behaviors,” he said.
Tarr said Liberty House focuses on prevent-
ing not only sexual abuse, but digital abuse – a
rising problem among youth with ever-increas-
ing access to social media. He said there are a
number of ways people can get involved, starting
with scheduling a free training session.
“Reach out and contact us,” he said. “We can
schedule up to five people per class.”
Liberty House works closely with local
non-profits and agencies including CASA of
Marion County. The Oregon Child Abuse
Hotline is (855) 503-7233. You can find out more
about Darkness to Light at d2l.org.
No more masks on mass transit
BY CHARLES GLENN
Of the Keizertimes
Although the US Justice Department
said today they might appeal the deci-
sion, a federal court judge in Florida effec-
tively ended the federal mask mandate
this week. Within hours, airports and
mass transit agencies across the country
were announcing they were dropping the
requirement, including the Salem-Keizer
area Cherriots service.
“Effective immediately, masks are
optional for Cherriots riders and employ-
ees,” said a press release on April 19.
Most of the other local agencies, col-
leges and universities, including nearby
Chemeketa Community College, dropped
their mandates in March - however most
hospital and medical care settings in
Oregon still require facial coverings.
The
Transportation
Security
Administration (TSA) also announced
yesterday that they would not be enforc-
ing the mandate while the Justice
Department reviews its options, which
impacts every airport, train and bus sta-
tion in the country.
This doesn’t mean the end of masks
while traveling, of course - individual air-
lines and local transit agencies can make
their own rules regarding masks, such
New York’s MTA, who said today they
would continue to require them on New
York subways and busses.
Meanwhile the Center for Disease
Control continues to recommend
mask-wearing as a precaution against
infection while in enclosed areas. Here in
Oregon, mask requirements are dropping
everywhere — just as COVID numbers are
spiking again with the BA.2 variant, which
has quickly become the dominant strain
infecting the most people.
The decisions surrounding mask man-
dates are largely based on the numbers of
cases rising or falling in any given area.
Here in Oregon, those numbers are gen-
erated by the Oregon Health Authority,
whose experts reminded journalists at a
media availability on April 20 that the pri-
mary defense against COVID is getting
vaccinated and boosted.
Public health physicians with the OHA,
Dr. Tom Jeanne and Dr. Paul Cieslak,
fielded questions from reporters about
how the mandate-lift would impact the
so-called “undercount,” which indicates
the existence of COVID cases in Oregon
which aren’t being reported or tracked.
See MANDATE, page 2
Photo courtesy of Cherriots.