BonnerSprings.com

A Bonner Springs Police Detective was honored recently for her work in helping those least able to help themselves.

The Sunflower House, a nonprofit organization based in Shawnee whose mission is to protect children from physical and sexual abuse through education, advocacy, forensic and medical services, named Detective Vickie Fogarty its Child Advocate of the Year for 2008.

In her speech introducing Fogarty at an Aug. 26 luncheon, Erin Miller Weiss, child assessment program director for Sunflower House, said Fogarty was "committed to uncovering the truth in child abuse investigations and helping children and their families secure medical and mental health services to start the recovery process."

Also, she said, Fogarty "takes the time to meet with parents and other relatives, therapists, case managers, social workers, school staff and other involved persons in order to completely investigate the allegations brought to her attention. Even when the allegations will not likely lead to criminal charges, this advocate diligently coordinates efforts with other multidisciplinary team members and the families to ensure that the families' needs are met and to help prevent future child abuse and crises."

It was "an utter surprise," Fogarty said of learning she'd been named, though she knew Bonner Springs Police Lt. Rick Schubert had nominated her.

The surprise was in part because "you're up against so many people - prosecutors, social workers, other police detectives and officers."

Fogarty first joined the department in 1993, serving as a patrol officer, and was promoted to detective after about five years. She became the primary investigator for child-abuse investigations after that.

In her acceptance speech, Fogarty discussed two of the cases she'd worked on in the last year. Her investigation helped put away one man for 26 years and 8 months, who was convicted of raping his then-9-year-old stepdaughter, and another man convicted of child sexual abuse for 35 years.

In the case of the 9-year-old, Fogarty said, in addition to the obviously ugly and heartbreaking facts common to every such case, the little girl had been telling adults, including her mother, for three years that her stepfather had been abusing her. No one believed her.

Then a neighbor of the girl contacted Fogarty, saying he doubted the girl too but, just in case it was true, he wanted it checked out so Fogarty interviewed the girl.

"That's the hardest thing," Fogarty said of her work on child sexual abuse cases. "So many people didn't listen but she would still tell."

That girl, Fogarty said, "is the bravest little girl I know, because she kept telling people."

Bringing child abusers to justice is gratifying in such cases, Fogarty said, but the investigations themselves are still wrenching.

"There's so many victims," Fogarty said, and what parents and others charged with caring for children should remember is that the "suspects nine out of 10 times" are people they wouldn't think capable of such crimes.

Comments