Center reports slight drop in interviews | News, Sports, Jobs

In the observation and investigation room at the North Star Child Advocacy Center are Detective Nathan Forshey of the Wood County Sheriff’s Office, Abby Pifer and Julie Nutter of North Star, Kim White of the Department of Health and Human Resources and Alexa Barker of North Star. The center reported a slight decrease in forensic interviews for the first half of the year compared to 2023. (Photo provided)

PARKERSBURG — The North Star Child Advocacy Center, among West Virginia’s busiest, conducted 38 fewer forensic interviews in the first half of 2024 than in the first half of 2023, the executive director said.

With Ritchie, Pleasants, Wirt and Calhoun counties appearing relatively unchanged from last year, Wood County conducted 215 interviews this year compared to 255 at the same time in 2023, Executive Director Greg Collins said.

This reduction is influenced by many factors, he said.

“Keeping in mind that we only conduct interviews for law enforcement or child protective services, the number of interviews that come through our doors is determined by the number of investigations initiated by law enforcement or the number of reports received by CPS,” Collins said. “I would certainly like to think that there has been a reduction in child abuse in our five counties.”

Wood County child protective services were down 16 and law enforcement was down six, Collins said.

Recreating an interview at the North Star Child Advocacy Center, from left, North Star’s Candice Gabriel and child actor Jake Johnson. (Photo provided)

“We’re doing a really good job in the prosecutorial arena of getting more cases to trial or to jury,” he said. “We are also seeing a slight increase in interviews this year in some of our outlying counties, notably Calhoun and Ritchie.”

Collins said it is difficult to gauge the rise and fall in child abuse.

“Is it because child abuse has actually decreased? Is it because understaffing has become a problem in recent years, both for law enforcement and child protective services? Is it because the mental health of those investigating these cases is being compromised?” he said.

“In the end, who really knows?” Collins said.

“When you do this work, you hope that the numbers go down because there are fewer incidents of child abuse and you do a good job on all fronts to make that happen.”

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