CREATING A PUBLICATION: "Authentic Voices" One of the pieces received so far, a poem titled “My Name,” includes the line, “No longer will I wear the name of fear upon my eyes,” and one of the images chosen to illustrate the public awareness campaign is a partial profile of a bright-eyed child.

North Dakota Silent no more: Abuse survivors speak out North Dakotans who suffered sexual abuse or assault as children will speak out in poems and stories. by Chuck Haga Advocates for survivors of child abuse in North Dakota are asking them to “come out” by writing something from the heart — about the abuse, how they've dealt with it or anything they'd like to say about their lives — for a publication to be called “Authentic Voices.”

“These are people who are very willing to share their stories so nobody else has to go through what they went through,” said Karen Van Fossan, who organized the project for Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota.

“I've been more moved than I imagined I would be,” she said. “There is a real generosity in the people who've shared their writings.”

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, and “Authentic Voices” will be published in June and distributed statewide.

Van Fossan said she hopes to receive more offerings. (Writings may be submitted at www.stopchildabusend.com or by calling 1-800-403-9932 .)

“We have about 10 so far,” she said. “For a first go-around, I feel very pleased. But I would love to have a thousand, and we'd include something from everybody.

“We're not asking you just to write about the abuse you experienced. We want your voice to be heard, so whatever it is you would like to write about and share from your life, we want to hear that. We want you to reclaim your voice.”

Troubling trends

In 2009, the most recent year for which figures are available, state child welfare officials authorized 8,528 “full assessments” of suspected child abuse or neglect, said Tim Hathaway, state executive director of Prevent Child Abuse.

That number, which represents cases in which officials found credible evidence that abuse had occurred, has remained “pretty flat over the past several years,” Hathaway said, but it's almost 37 percent higher than the 6,228 cases identified 10 years earlier.

Some of that increase since 1999 may be because of better reporting and changes in how reports are processed, he said. Some benchmarks that investigators have to meet have been lowered, and more people in various positions and occupations now are mandated to report suspected abuse. The recently adjourned 2011 Legislature added dental hygienists to the list that includes physicians, teachers, members of the clergy and others.

Hathaway said that training has improved over the past decade for child care providers, another mandated group.

One troubling trend: “We're seeing an increase of very severe cases,” he said. “Ten years ago, we didn't have a lot of kids being killed, such as shaken babies, but we've had a number of those cases over the past three or four years.”

The apparently violent death of two children in St. Michael, N.D., last week remains under investigation. A man, the children's father, has been taken into custody but not charged.

Other cases that have reached the courts in recent months include a Grand Forks man who admitted shaking and injuring his 2-month-old son last year and was ordered to serve two years on electronic home monitoring and three years on probation. In February, a Tokio, N.D., woman was convicted of beating her 4-year-old son last August with a plastic hanger, leaving him with welts and severe bruising. She was ordered to serve seven years in prison.

Hathaway said authorities also have seen “a spike in the number of exploitation cases” involving predators obtaining access to children online.

“Neglect, with kids left in cars or at home unattended or unsupervised, also is on the rise in our state,” he said. One contributing factor may be an increase in the number of dual-income families. “What do you do with those kids?”

Also, many abuse cases involve substance abuse, he said. “Young parents are especially vulnerable when you add substance abuse” to financial and other stress points they may face.

The voices project “is a great opportunity to raise awareness in our communities that child abuse and neglect is happening,” Hathaway said. “It's happening here in North Dakota. It's happening to people we live and work with.

“It also gives people a chance to express themselves. We know there's sex abuse that's never reported because people are afraid, scared that they'll have more problems. This can give voice to that and maybe help somebody else.”

A generous spirit

Van Fossan, a writer and therapist who lives in Bismarck, was hired as a consultant by Prevent Child Abuse North Dakota to develop the project.

“There used to be a speakers bureau, where survivors of abuse made themselves available to speak at functions,” she said. “By sharing the truth of their experience, they felt they could change the culture in which those abuses took place.

“Over the past few years, the program was in some kind of transition, trying to find new footing. I suggested we put together a publication so more people would have a chance to share their very powerful stories.”

So far, everybody who has submitted a poem or story has chosen to be anonymous or to use a pen name.

“The risks even into adulthood of being named are just too high for some,” Van Fossan said. “There's a fear of social isolation. Others are willing to come out and tell about their experience, but they're not willing to point a finger at someone for what they did in the past, or they fear this could create a burden for other family members” who may or may not have known about the abuse.

That “generosity of spirit” has been evident in other ways.

“One poet wrote that she was glad it happened to her, rather than to one who was younger,” she said. “And I've heard from a couple of friends and family members of those who were victimized who want to write something out of love and concern for them.”

The physical or sexual abuse of children happens in cities and in the rural countryside, she said, and in all corners of the state and nation.

“This is something that has touched my family in different ways, and I feel very strong about it,” she said. “I have seen within my larger family both the kind of desperation this can create and also the ways that people really can emerge as survivors.

“I think people do survive with just the littlest bit of support. Sadly, sometimes even that little bit of support is impossible to find.”

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