CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Center director Judy Lind showed last month how dolls are used by kids to demonstrate what happened to them. The nonprofit organization The Friends of the Children's Justice Center gives kids gifts that help them heal.

Group helps abused
kids recover

The organization aids
traumatized children to seek
justice and rebuild self-esteem

---

By Keiko Kiele Akana-Gooch
kakana-gooch@starbulletin.com

The little boy simply stopped talking. He also stopped going to school altogether. After the sex and other physical abuse by his mother's boyfriend, the boy seemed to shut off his connections to the world.

Until he spotted some horses one day. He seemed to be delighted by the sight.

The Friends of the Children's Justice Center of Oahu stepped in to help turn his life around. The nonprofit organization, which has a mission to help abused children, paid for sessions of therapeutic horsemanship, which allowed him to groom, pet and ride a horse.

Within a month, the boy began to respond to people, talking and listening. Six months of therapy earlier had failed to budge him at all.

"He did a tremendous job of healing," said program director Karen Turran. "I don't think that would've happened if we hadn't hooked him up with horses."

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Jasmine Mau-Mukai looked through a one-way mirror at the interview room last month at the Children's Justice Center of Oahu in Nuuanu. In the room was director Judy Lind and Honolulu Police Department Detective John Lucas. The center works with private agencies to provide medical, legal and counseling services to abused children and their families.

The boy, whose identity is protected, is one of more than 1,000 abused children who receive gifts, food and clothing from the private agency every year. With donations from the community, the agency provides about $500,000 worth of goods and services to help boost the children's self-esteem.

Susan Pearce, who recently was appointed executive director, said building self-esteem is important in the healing process because abused children are shattered and feel worthless. They often don't understand that they are not at fault.

"That's what systematic abuse does to you," Pearce said. "They just feel like victims, like 'I'm a piece of dirt.' "

The gifts, such as the horsemanship lessons, help give the children confidence. "All those things say to the victim, 'You are important,' " she said.

The Friends is a service agency associated with the Children's Justice Center of Oahu. The center, located at 3019 Pali Highway in Nuuanu, is operated by the state judiciary and provides forensic interviews for abused children.

The center aims to help abused children seek justice in a comfortable, friendly place, said Judy Lind, center director. The Friends agency helps the children become children again, she said.

The center works with other private agencies to provide medical, legal and counseling services to abused children and their families. The Friends, begun in 1986, helps by providing money for the services when the families can't afford them.

Many of the children come from families whose incomes are below the poverty line, Turran said.

The Friends' main function is to raise money and collect gifts. It has five part-time staff members and about 100 volunteers and receives victim referrals from the center and others.

The gifts and services are provided through social workers who work directly with abused children who often aren't aware the Friends are working behind the scene.

"The kid never knows it actually comes from us. That's fine, if that helps build a better bond (with the social worker), sounds good to us," Pearce said.

In future plans for the Friends, Pearce hopes to enlist youths as volunteers, which would free adult volunteers for other projects.

"Kids can do things for other kids," Pearce said, adding that children who are not neglected and abused would gain an appreciation for their own situation through volunteering. She also hopes to instill in them a sense of obligation to help others less fortunate.

To volunteer or give donations, or for more information about the Friends of the Children's Justice Center of Oahu, call 599-2955.