For children who are victims of sexual violence or abuse, testifying at a criminal trial about their traumatic experiences can induce a lot of anxiety, especially when the stress of sharing those experiences with strangers is coupled with a lack of knowledge about the intricacies of the U.S. criminal justice system.
Lotus Children’s Advocacy & Sexual Violence Resource Center, Kentucky’s designated children’s advocacy and sexual violence resource center for the Purchase area, with the help of grant money from the Kentucky Bar Foundation, has created educational materials to teach the victims the organization serves everything they need to know to prepare to testify in court.
Lotus received a grant worth over $8,000 for the fiscal year 2021 from the Kentucky Bar Foundation, a non-profit organization associated with the state’s professional organization for lawyers and legal professionals that works to further the public’s understanding of the judicial system. The group is using the grant money to continue developing educational resources and interactive tools to help children whose cases are in the criminal justice system, as well as their caregivers, learn more about the judicial process. That includes flip cards, which are customizable depending on factors like which court the case is held in, who the judge on the case will be and the prosecutor assigned to the case, and a video from the perspective of a child going through the justice process.
The materials can help caregivers as much as the children involved in the cases, Grace Stewart, Lotus Child Advocacy Center program director and legal advocate, said. “A lot of anxiety children experience or display may be a result of anxieties of the adults around them,” Stewart said.
The educational tools carry the theme “Be BRAVE,” which is meant to empower children through providing them knowledge and coping strategies. While brave can describe the state of emotion Lotus hopes to provide to child victims, BRAVE also serves as an acronym providing coping strategies for the children Lotus serves. “Be BRAVE means: Breathe in brave. Relax. Aware of self. Visualize a safe space. Exhale fear,” Stewart said.
“These innovative tools enhance our advocacy to improve safety, healing, and justice outcomes for children and families in the Purchase Area.” Stewart said 60% of victims that Lotus works with are under the age of 18. She added that Lotus plans on sharing these materials with about 75 children in the next year who are in active preparation for court cases.
The court preparatory video, produced by Lotus along with the Kentucky Bar Foundation, educates viewers about the judicial process by following a fictional child through their case. Three prosecutors from Graves County — Richie Kemp, Aimee Clymer-Hancock and John Beasley — appear in the video alongside McCracken County Sheriff’s Department Chief Bailiff Melissa Dillon and McCracken County District Judge Todd Jones. The video also features victim survivors that Lotus has previously served sharing words of advice from their experiences in court.
Clymer-Hancock, first assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Graves County, also serves as the head of the Vulnerable Victims Unit in Graves County, which focuses on cases involving child physical and sexual abuse as well as other cases involving sexual violence. “As a child abuse prosecutor, I am grateful to partner with Lotus in the creation of a court prep video that empowers our child victims to confidently fight for justice,” Clymer-Hancock said.
Stewart, in her role as a legal advocate for child victims, said she has seen results from the children who have already started using the flip cards.
She said that when she and one of her clients met with a prosecutor last week, the child told the prosecutor, “Wait, I’ve seen you before,” having recognized the prosecutor from a photo on their flip card. Stewart added that she hopes all of the educational resources Lotus has developed help people, both children and caretakers, who wish or need to interact with the judicial system have the ability to do so.
