A Study of Child Advocates’ Best Practices for Fostering Emotional Resilience in Child Victims of Abuse
Abstract
This paper reports the best practices, methods and strategies that a small group of child advocates in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, use to help foster emotional resilience in child victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. The research method used was a questionnaire to collect qualitative data on the methods and strategies used by this small group of advocates. The results show the best practices identified by the advocates to establish and build a new set of behavioral and emotional responses for the children to draw from. The advocates accomplished this by creating safe, loving and supportive environments for the children, believing the children, giving them age appropriate activities to share their stories and helping both the families and the community learn how to appropriately help the children through their process.
The practical applicability of this paper is of a reference nature for the advocates in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, and for myself. It clarifies and substantiates in writing, for myself and other professionals working with children the methods and strategies that can be used to help children reach their fullest potential during the most challenging of times.