Program Chairwoman Becky Robbins introduced Beth Oakes, the Executive Director of the Child Advocacy Program (CAP), who has been a non-profit leader in our community for over twenty years.
Before coming to the Child Advocacy Center in 2018, she worked as the Director of the Jamestown YWCA for eighteen years. She has a passion for non-profit work and giving back to the community.
Beth has a long history of supporting programming, especially for women and children. She is also an independent contractor for AllyCo where she provides 1:1 couching for nonprofit leaders. Recently, she facilitated a six-month cohort for ten local nonprofit directors and emerging leaders.
As a volunteer, Beth serves on the Jamestown YWCA Board of Trustees and The Resource Center’s Connection Board.
On the personal side of her life are three wonderful children, and seven incredible grandchildren (six boys and 1 girl ages ten and under)!
She enjoys living in the country in Sinclairville, being outside, and being a voracious reader.
The Child Advocacy Program of Chautauqua County is a safe, child-friendly center that supports a multi-disciplinary investigative approach to child physical and sexual abuse allegations and its Executive Director is dedicated to seeing children of Chautauqua County happy, thriving and striving.
Beth began her career helping children in all types of situations in the District Attorney’s office. After some time, she decided to go in another direction and headed for the YWCA.
CAP today has 2 offices, one at 425 Main Street in Dunkirk and another at 405 West Third Street in Jamestown. The organization recently purchased the building in Dunkirk and will also hopefully use it as a profit center.
CAP is accredited by the National Children’s Alliance that holds the organization to a standard of excellence in the quality of service. The Chautauqua County organization is modeled after the Buffalo organization. The local organization brings all services together which makes it much easier for its clients.
The organization follows a multidisciplinary model with mental health services, physical services, and law enforcement all together able to hear and see the original client interview.
CAP has 8 to 15 staff members, and all services are free. They investigate 380 to 400 new cases annually, 2/3 of which are females. (Underreporting of abuse to males is far less.) The cases include violence, homicide, assault, abuse and neglect in all forms. The office works with authorities who are carrying out a drug bust during school hours; to be sure the children are taken from school to CAP and then to Child Protective Services so that they do not have to witness the confrontation between the police and the alleged adult abusers/law breakers.
There are Family Advocates who assist in the interview, meet with the parents and support the family legally.
Forensic interviews conducted in a private interview room can be watched by all of the support staff with the children unaware so that they don’t have to tell their situation over and over.
The children and families are provided with mental health counselors and there is play therapy available for children aged 3-6, to allow them to act out and vocalize their abusive situation.
The organization provides safe harbor education and training for young people who may allow themselves to fall into a pattern of abuse accidentally in chat rooms, on the telephone and computer. A Prevention Educator is now reaching over 29 county zip codes to educate young people on how they may fall victim to abusers online.
Everyone should be aware to see, react, respond and refer to protect the safety of our young people. CAP helps educate everyone about the steps to safety for caregivers, especially those young people using computers, routers and iPhones every day.
It was eye-opening to know that there are 380-400 new cases of child abuse every year- that’s more than one new case every day. SOBERING!
The Club informed Beth it would pay for the vaccination of 4 children who will never know the scourge of polio in their life.