On this fieldwork, we met with various people who were part of the World Childhood Foundation at their NYC headquarters. We spoke to Joanna Rubinstein and Nicole Epps, and we had previously met with them two times in the past. Talking to Joanna, who is the president and CEO of Childhood, and Nicole, who is the managing director and works with the programs and policy of the organization, felt a bit strange to me because we are speaking to such powerful people while we are still students in school. I think that when I first met them this didn’t strike me too much because I was so nervous to be meeting with anyone at all, but as I kept meeting with this organization I realized how casual our meeting was even though this organization’s purpose is very far from laid-back. However, even as important and outstanding as this organization is, when I spoke to the workers there it felt very easy and enjoyable. In the past it has been difficult for me to talk to people who work in child abuse prevention organizations because they feel so much older and more experienced than I am, but even though people at the World Childhood Foundation are super well versed in their work, I can talk to them like I know them and have real conversations with them. We talked about how around the world people are making connects with child abuse and finding ways to detect it and stop it. For example, an uber driver was able to save a girl from sexual trafficking when he noticed her in a car with women that didn’t seem like her parents. I think this is really interesting because I know that many people would much rather pretend to not see abuse by believing that it may not be what they think, and that being able to confirm that what you are witnessing is trafficking can help you report the event easier. We also talked how people we know have dealt with child abuse, and how people can help them. The people we spoke to brought up how in Sweden there is a new system where girls can talk to their mentors about their lives and issues they face. Something surprising that came up was that many of the girls told their mentors about the incest they had undergone. I found this, although very upsetting, to be comforting news because the girls were able to find somehow to talk to about their experiences to someone who could hopefully help them. The system had given them a safe place to talk about aspects of their lives that felt unsafe to them. I want to teach kids in our workshop words they can say or what they can do when someone comes out as experiencing child abuse or as having experienced abuse. It shouldn’t be as shocking as it is currently being viewed right now since it is horrifyingly common. A big part of why it’s very hard for people who experience child abuse to talk about it is because they are scared to see how people will react, but if we come to recognize it easier and not become alarmed or panicked, we can help them much better.
Nicole Epps of the Word Childhood Foundation ( Photo Taken from Google Images)
Joanna Rubinstein of the World Childhood Foundation (Photo Taken from Google Images)
Tessa Chermiset of The World Childhood Foundation (Photo Taken from Google Images)
