Print edition: 
Though the four victims and their tormentor remain nameless, one family’s horror story in the Sunday Eagle conveyed an important lesson for a community in which child abuse is appallingly common: People need to be vigilant and report their suspicions.
In this case, four girls ages 5 to 8 were rescued from severe sexual abuse because a teacher acted and the Wichita-Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Child Unit responded.
Getting all four girls to safety wasn’t easy, given that the 5-year-old was traveling in Texas with the abusive father. But the swift and decisive response in March removed the girls from a nightmare and put the man behind bars. That’s where he’ll stay for at least 25 years under a deal this month in which he pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated sodomy and one count of lewd and lascivious behavior with a child younger than 16.
The family’s case also delivers a warning to those who know about such abuse and do nothing: The mother received probation for a charge of aggravated endangerment and agreed to sever her parental rights.
Rescue only came when a victim said something outside the family — in this case, because of a classroom lesson about appropriate touching. Then the teacher believed the child and immediately told a school social worker, who called law enforcement. Fortunately for Sedgwick County, members of the EMCU and other practiced professionals were in place and ready to take it from there. Unfortunately, the girls’ case was not unusual: It was among 245 sex-crime cases against children in the county in the first six months of this year. Last year there were 530 such cases, including five involving incest.
To deal appropriately with such crimes, as well as other threats such as severe neglect, the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County still needs help from the community as it works to fund and open a child-focused facility staffed by a multidisciplinary team made up of law enforcement investigators, prosecutors, medical professionals, counselors and advocates.
Citizens need to trust such professionals, but also their instincts.
As Virgil Miller, an EMCU detective who worked on the girls’ case, told The Eagle’s Roy Wenzl: “Call the police even if you just have a suspicion. Let us sort out whether there’s anything going wrong.”
Report child abuse by calling either 911 or 1-800-922-5330.
Doing so will break the silence that makes such heinous crimes against children possible.
