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Bivona Child Advocacy Center

At Bivona Child Advocacy Center, we facilitate a collaboration of professionals who specialize in child abuse. They protect, treat and counsel children and their families so the journey of healing can begin.

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Our mission

The mission of Bivona Child Advocacy Center is to coordinate and provide services and support to meet the needs of child victims of sexual or physical abuse and their families at a single and safe, child-friendly facility. The Center is committed to reducing trauma, promoting accountability, fostering healing, and advocating on behalf of child victims of sexual and physical abuse.

Our vision

That every child has access to the services of a children’s advocacy center.

News & Happenings

Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families

Breaking the Silence on Child Abuse Protection, Prevention, Intervention, and Deterrence

HEARING DATE: December 13, 2011

In recent months the issue of child sexual abuse has been prevalent in both national and local news. The December 13, 2011 Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families hearing, “Breaking the Silence on Child Abuse Protection, Prevention, Intervention, and Deterrence,” brought together a panel of respected leaders in the child advocacy community to discuss relevant issues surrounding child sexual abuse. 

Read more…

Our Next Fundraising Event

7th Annual Open That Bottle Night

Saturday, February 25, 2012 6:00 p.m.

Locust Hill Country Club

Don’t miss the Bivona Child Advocacy Center’s signature event and the pre-eminent OTBN party in Rochester next year. The night will focus on wine, food, travel and sports…

Read more…

Ways to help

We rely heavily on the generosity of people in our community, who provide time, energy, expertise and financial support. If you’d like to make a bigger difference, check out the ways you can help.

get involved   donate   shop

Bivona Summit on Child Abuse

Join us April 25 & 26, 2012 for our annual Bivona Summit on Child Abuse, a multidisciplinary training conference for professionals. The Summit offers a comprehensive program at an affordable price, presented by national, regional and local experts in their field. Register by April 16th or contact us if you’d like to be included on next year’s invitation list.

Learn more about child sexual abuse

Child abuse is a silent epidemic in this country. Get informed.

Resources

We’ve put together a lengthy list of links to agencies and organizations who can provide you with more information and assistance.

Download Bivona brochure

Bivona brochure thumbnail

It’s a handy all-in-one-place reference. Download the PDF. If you would like printed versions to distribute, please contact us.

 

We look forward to hearing from you

Contact us anytime, and we’ll do what we can to help.

 

About Bivona

A safe place for kids. Professionals who specialize in child abuse. A community collaboration.

Healthier kids. Stronger families. More abusers behind bars. Money saved. Bivona works.

Our partners and a team approach make it possible

This progressive approach partners child protective services social workers, law enforcement, prosecutors, medical professionals, therapists, advocates, and volunteers. Whenever possible, children participate in only one forensic interview, and one medical exam—a streamlined process which reduces the chances that the children are re-traumatized and preserves the best evidence for investigators.

Team members work together to provide the child and family the support services they need—all the way through trial and beyond—so that a process of trust and healing can begin.

We formally partner with these agencies to provide services to children:

  • Monroe County Child Protective Services
  • Law enforcement, including:
    • Rochester Police Department
    • Monroe County Sheriff’s Office
    • New York State Police
  • Monroe County District Attorney’s Office
  • REACH Program of Golisano Children’s Hospital at the University of Rochester
  • Rape Crisis Service
  • Linden Oaks Sexual Abuse Treatment Services
  • Catholic Family Center

A community service that happens only at Bivona

Bivona Child Advocacy Center is the only agency in the Greater Rochester community to provide these services. More than 1,000 children are helped at Bivona each year.

Although Bivona receives some government funding, much of our support comes from people within the community. We are a 501(c)(3) public charity, recognized by the State of New York as a non-profit organization. Our Board of Directors is a group of dedicated community members. Our staff is small but experienced and effective.

The Child Advocacy Center model was created in 1985. Since then, there have been more than 700 such centers established across the country. Bivona is an accredited member of the National Children’s Alliance. Accreditation assures our partners and the community that we are meeting national standards for delivery of care and services.

Read more about how Bivona can help, and take a virtual tour.

Our mission is fulfilled through greater public awareness and support. We are happy to speak to your school, organization or business. Contact us to request a presentation.

And we welcome your gift of time or money. Learn more about ways to help.

Before Bivona: the child and family navigate the maze of agencies on their own

Before Bivona, a child who suffered abuse was generally interviewed first by someone with little or no experience in child abuse— maybe a school principal, maybe a police officer. Then he was taken to a police department, where he told his story again. The atmosphere was often chaotic, with accused criminals being brought in and out, phones ringing, police responding to one crisis after another.

Then it was on to the emergency room where the child had a medical exam and told the story again to a nurse, doctor, social worker…and then to a child protective services worker, and possibly a lawyer from the DAs office. And he told the story again. Finally, maybe there was a counselor and he’s asked to tell the story once again.

He was traumatized to begin with. At the end of this process, he’s exhausted and confused and even re-traumatized from the multiple times he had to re-tell his story. The details got fuzzy and the crime became harder to investigate and prosecute. And it took days or even weeks, because there were multiple bureaucracies and schedules involved and no one was coordinating the entire effort. And it was expensive.

With Bivona: streamlined, compassionate, coordinated, effective—a path to healing

With Bivona, care for the child and family is coordinated at one place—our safe, welcoming, child-friendly center. All of the professionals who are involved in abuse system come to the child, not the other way around. They’re specialists in what they do, and they work together as a team, coordinated by Bivona staff, to keep the process simple and effective.

The child tells her story during a forensic interview, usually to just one person, while multiple members of the team—Child Protective Services, police, the district attorney—watch from behind a one-way mirror. She can see a doctor specially trained in child abuse for a medical exam, and then she can talk to a counselor who helps her begin the healing process.

Even given the terrible abuse they’ve suffered, kids sometimes say, “I like this place. Can I come back?” 

Meanwhile, Child Protective Services is working to be sure that other children in the family are safe, and coordinating support services. Her brothers and sisters get to hang out in our play area with a friendly volunteer. And an advocate is sitting with her mother to help her understand and navigate the next steps and the court system. All of this can happen in the span of a few hours.

Outcomes: judge us by our results

“There’s a pretty clear difference between the cases that are handled through Bivona and those that are not. Based on my experience, when a child is interviewed at Bivona, the child feels comfortable and gives a better disclosure —which makes it easier to prosecute. And the children are always treated with respect, which is a huge factor in how well they’re able to recover.”

– Kristina Karle, Chief of Domestic Violence/Child Abuse Bureau,
Monroe County District Attorney’s Office

National studies indicate that the cost of providing children with coordinated care through a Child Advocacy Center saves about one-third of the cost of accessing the social and legal agencies individually. The savings represent $1,000 per child.* At Bivona we save the community about $1 million each year. And we mend some broken hearts, too.

* Source: Executive Summary, Findings from the National Child Advocacy Center Cost-Benefit Analysis of Community Responses to Child Maltreatment, 2005. Download the PDF.

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275 Lake Avenue, Rochester, NY 14608  Tel: (585) 935-7800  Fax: (585) 935-7804

©2009 Bivona Child Advocacy Center. All Rights Reserved. None of the photographs
of children on this web site depict actual clients of Bivona Child Advocacy Center.
We maintain strict confidentiality with all of our clients.