Burns: Nearly $47,000 state grant to aid abused Cambria County children, hold perpetrators accountable
Rep. Frank Burns December 13, 2018 | 12:12 PM
EBENSBURG, Dec. 13 – Enhanced services for abused children will be boosted by a $46,968 state grant to the Cambria County Child Advocacy Center, state Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria, announced today.
Burns, a leader in the statewide effort to hold child abusers accountable, said the grant through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency will help young victims of physical and sexual abuse with healing – and will help bring abusers to justice.
“Our region has been devastated by decades of documented sexual abuse by clergy, but we all know the abuse doesn’t stop there,” Burns said. “This funding is all about giving abused kids a second chance – and rooting out and punishing their abusers – by ensuring that the center has the state-of-the art resources it needs for investigating, evaluating and treating abuse.”
Burns said the Cambria County CAC was awarded close to the maximum of $47,000 to provide high-quality medical evaluations and mental health screenings for abused children, and to ensure that forensic interviews are conducted to help hold perpetrators accountable.
The grant comes through Act 28 of 2014, which highlighted the importance of children’s advocacy centers and established a dedicated funding stream for the training of mandated reporters, and for CACs.