CEO's message
It’s my privilege to share with you what we do at this place called Zebra.
Hanna is 5, she loves to play dress up. She likes pretending she’s a princess and a fairy, and her favorite color is pink. Benjamin is 8, he is happiest when he covered in mud and playing monster trucks with his buddies in his back yard. Megan is 12, she has recently discovered how cool she is and constantly reminds her parents how uncool they are. She loves to shop with her older sister and she dreams of being a fashion designer. Pete’s 14, he likes skateboarding and science class and “hanging out” with his friends. He loves to read…but he won’t admit that to anyone besides his mom.
The one thing these kids have in common is that they each came to the Zebra Child Protection Centre to tell us about the abuse they were experiencing.
The Zebra Centre works to improve the life experiences of children who have suffered abuse. In a children’s book, author Melissa Stewart says, “When zebras run in a group, their stripes blend together. It may be hard for enemies to tell where one zebra ends and another starts.” When danger appears, adult zebras form a ‘protective circle’ around their young. This is how the Zebra Centre works, by bringing together a multi-disciplinary team of caring professionals – child protection investigators, police officers, prosecutors, donors and volunteers – to an environment that protects the child and uses all their collaborative wisdom to lend strength, creating this place where ‘kids can tell’.
A child’s initial visit to the Zebra Centre is often the first time they share the full extent of the abuse they have endured. We can only imagine how difficult it can be for a child, sometimes as young as three and a half, to articulate their abuse for the first time.
Before coming to Zebra, most children believe they are in trouble, they believe they won’t be listened to and they believe that it is only happening to them.
Our first task is to overcome those barriers. Everyone at the Centre is committed to sending the message to each child that walks through our door that “this place was built for you”. At Zebra, everything from the soothing, playful décor to our child sized furniture was thoughtfully chosen to let children know that it’s ok to simply be a child here. Nothing more is expected of them. Before the Zebra Centre opened in 2002, a child needed to go to police headquarters to disclose their abuse. Now, they come to Zebra and are encouraged to play and become comfortable in spaces that are age appropriate and safe. A sense of comfort is essential for the disclosure process. Feeling relaxed and valued encourages children to put words to their experiences.
The most important part of what the Zebra Centre does is capture a child’s voice. What a child tells us forms the base of the criminal investigation. What they say lets us know how we can best support them and if a medical examination or counseling may be required. The interview rooms at Zebra are sometimes the first place that a child is ever given permission to say exactly what they need to say, using their words. When a child is telling one of the police officers about their sexual assault, they may use words we hope children never learn. Many of us would cringe or shy away from listening to a child’s story but our team of investigators walk into each interview believing it is a privilege to be the one whom that child chose to talk to.
What happens inside the interview room is best described as a fact finding conversation. Our team needs to determine if what the child is telling us is something that they saw, or heard, or experienced. We always remember that not every child that comes to Zebra has been abused and we celebrate every time we learn that a child has not been harmed.
The Zebra Centre was the first of its kind in Canada. The Centre was founded on the belief that the community should share in the responsibility of responding to child abuse allegations. Our capacity to meet the complex and dynamic needs of each child is dependent on the support we receive from community members like you and allows us to consider the child’s perspective in all we do.
Working together as a multi-disciplinary team, allows us to see where gaps exist in supporting these kids and families; gaps that it is our responsibility, as a community, to fill. An example of our community coming together in a small way was when a young girl was brutally assaulted and during the assault her glasses were shattered. She was driven to the hospital in an ambulance. Her mother was overwhelmed not only with concern for her child, but for the added expenses of the ambulance bill and the cost of replacing her glasses. Her concern about the financial burden was distracting her from what was most important, her daughter’s well being. Within a couple phone calls to some of our supporters, the cost of the ambulance bill and the glasses was erased and that mom was able to focus all of her energy on her daughter. That is the role we have as a community.
When a child that has experienced abuse is sitting in an interview room with a detective, and that child looks up at the detective and says “can you help me get these bad thoughts out of my head?” we have a responsibility to do that. A goal of the Zebra Centre is to be able to provide onsite mental health care for children in trauma. A clinical psychologist would be able to do trauma screenings and assessments for children who have experienced abuse and would ensure children are not placed on a 4 to 6 week waiting list.
We have another responsibility as a community. We have a responsibility to use our voice whenever we believe a child is at risk. We need to not hesitate to pick up the phone and report any suspicion of abuse. You do not have the responsibility to determine if a child is being abused, we have police officers and child welfare investigators for that, you just need to be courageous enough to make the call on a child’s behalf. If we expect children to use their voice and tell us what is happening, we need to use ours to help keep them safe.
One of the most powerful things I have witnessed at the Zebra Centre is how the entire team puts the needs of a child first, no matter how small or insignificant they may appear. When I am sitting in my office with a team member and we overhear a child in the hallway, we stop and listen to what they have to say. I remember one day, a little girl, no more than 4, was walking down the hall with her interviewer. She had our huge plastic lizard tucked under her arm. She looked up at her interviewer and said, “I think I need a leash for my lizard.” Before the little girl was done speaking, the team member that was in my office was scurrying down the hall to find some red ribbon that she could fashion into a leash for the lizard. I peered out of my office and watched as the little girl took hold of the leash and gently dragged her lizard down the hall towards the interview room with a huge smile on her face that was not there before.
In the child friendly waiting rooms at the Court House, we have journals to allow families to express how they are feeling while at Court. One girl wrote this, “As horrible as this is right now, I don’t think I would have made it through this ordeal without the army of support Zebra has given me. I am no longer a young child as it took a very long time to get to trial. I am now sixteen and I can say the Zebra centre never gave up. I truly believe these people at Zebra are God sent angels. I was so scared of this whole thing but they gave me hope to carry on and push through. I’ll never forget what happened to me but more importantly, I’ll never forget the greatness in the Zebra people. There are not enough words to explain my thanks for the army of zebras we all don’t see. P.S. my quote for today is ‘When you feel like there is no hope, look around’”.
To our team of investigators and prosecutors, it is important that Hanna loves everything that’s pink, and Pete likes to skateboard. We care that Benjamin likes monster trucks and Megan is 12 going on 30. Those details matter. These kids are not to be labeled abused kids, they are not victims, they are children that have experienced something awful. The cards they have been dealt might not appear to be a winning hand, but with your help we are able to remind them that they are still just kids and we get to celebrate the things in their lives that bring them joy.
Fundamentally, the Zebra Centre was founded on a promise to the community. A promise that the community would see higher conviction rates for child abusers, better outcomes during the investigations, more charges being laid and more guilty pleas in court. In the last six years, we have seen conviction rates in Edmonton increase from 25% in 2002 to 89% in 2008. And over 76% of those convictions were guilty pleas. What that means is a child’s voice is now as strong and as credible as an adult’s voice in the Edmonton courtrooms. The Zebra Centre response has strengthened the child’s voice so much, that offenders are pleading guilty, despite knowing that they will face mandatory jail time for their crime.
I want to leave you with one last thought: Samuel Johnson said, “whatever enlarges hope, will also exalt courage”. Thank you for taking an interest in the important work of the Zebra Centre. By supporting the Centre you will join with us in enlarging a family’s hope and offering courage to a child.
