Sexual Abuse & Domestic Violence

Social workers’ caseloads for child neglect and abuse are dramatically increasing in Southeast, and, apparently, statewide, according to the head of a regional service provider. Threats to state children’s service workers are also increasing.

Erin Walker-Tolles, executive director of Catholic Community Service in Juneau, testified before the House Finance Committee earlier this month. She asked for more funding to deal with a 59 percent increase in referrals to her nonprofit’s child advocacy center, or CAC. It deals with cases of children who may be victims of abuse and neglect across Southeast.

“It’s dramatic, it’s pervasive and, from what we’ve heard from the other CACs, it is statewide. And I’m here to ask you to consider increasing the funding for CACs statewide,” she said.

In Juneau, the S.A.F.E. Child Advocacy Center performs forensic interviews and, when necessary, physical examinations for evidence of sexual abuse. It’s one of 13 across the state. Accredited CACs work to minimize the trauma victims experience by sharing their stories and increase the likelihood of successful prosecution. Workers also assist families with navigating the legal system should their case go to trial.

In Southeast, victims usually travel to Juneau from remote communities by plane or ferry to be interviewed by staff. The center operates out of an undisclosed location to protect victims’ identities.

The number of children referred to the center shot up from 97 in 2016 to 154 last year. Half came from outside of Juneau.

Program Manager Susan Loseby has worked at the center for six years. She said they’re not sure what caused the increase.

“I would hope that more kids aren’t being abused. It’s just that more people are reporting what they suspect as abuse,” she said.

One thing is clear: They need more people to deal with the workload.

The center has three full-time employees and three on-call nurses who perform medical examinations. Walker-Tolles and Loseby are asking for $77,000 to hire and train an additional staff member.

Loseby said working with children who have been abused and even raped takes a significant toll on staff, especially when they’re constantly on call. Secondary trauma for interviewers is a constant reality, and self-care and time off is key to being able to continue working in the field.

“It’s a lot to digest, hearing all of the disclosures that children are making and then working with the families who are also in trauma. It has, of course, increased the hours that we work, it has decreased the time that we can take off to heal and get the respite that we all need.”

The majority of funding for CACs comes from federal welfare grants that the Office of Children’s Services distributes statewide.

Walker-Tolles said despite the costs, the service is desperately needed.

“Ethically it’s the right thing to do. And if you want to talk about money, honestly it’s a cost-savings to the entire community and the state. If these kids are able to heal, be safe, grow up, go to college or school or find a vocation that inspires them and contribute to the economy, instead of falling into despair, failing school, not having job opportunities. The outcomes can be pretty grim.”

Meanwhile, the state’s Office of Children’s Services plans to place security officers at its Kenai and Fairbanks offices. Director of OCS Christy Lawton said the department has seen an increase in threats to workers over the years.

It came to a head in 2015 when the Anchorage office feared an active shooter scenario.

Since then, security personnel have been installed at field offices in Anchorage, Wasilla and Juneau.

“It’s not uncommon to be threatened, it’s not uncommon to be name-called, but when it starts to be people potentially laying hands on our staff that really draws the line. Our staff take a lot of abuse, and we do so because we understand the pressure and stress families are under, but there’s a line there and of course worker safety has to be a priority.”

Lawton said the security measures are also an effort to better comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards for worker safety.

OCS was fined following an OSHA complaint after a worker was shoved at the Fairbanks office.

They also plan to create a safety officer position based in Anchorage to help coordinate security efforts among the department’s 24 field offices.

Lawmakers have released a draft policy that would revise how the Legislature handles sexual and other workplace harassment.

The draft is modeled on Oregon’s policy. It is much more detailed than the current version, which the Legislature adopted in 2000.

Anchorage Democratic Rep. Matt Claman is the vice chair of the subcommittee working on the policy. He said the Oregon guidelines had the clearest procedure to file a complaint of any examined by the subcommittee.

“There was consensus on the committee to base our policy and procedure on that Oregon procedure, that looked to make a lot of sense,” he said.

Harassment became an issue in the fall, when legislative aides and women outside of the Legislature alleged sexual harassment by Kiana Democratic Rep. Dean Westlake, who resigned in December.

The Oregon policy requires that independent investigators handle complaints against legislators. The Alaska draft policy is not yet clear about how these complaints would be handled. Claman said the Legislature’s human resources manager may be in the best position to investigate lawmakers.

The draft policy would require the House speaker and Senate president to appoint special committees on conduct that would covene if a lawmaker has been investigated for alleged misconduct. These committees would have equal numbers from the majority and minority parties. The committees would recommend to each chamber whether to take disciplinary action. Then the chamber would vote the next day that it convenes.

The draft policy would give people one year to file a formal or informal complaint about harassment. Claman said the filing period should draw from existing federal standards.

Claman said the subcommittee plans to meet weekly until it finishes work on the draft policy. He didn’t put a deadline on its work, but says it would work steadily. Its next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.

Gov. Bill Walker met Monday with the three nominees for the now vacant District 40 seat for the Alaska House. The district covers the North Slope and Northwest Arctic boroughs and is open because former Rep. Dean Westlake resigned after allegations of sexual harassment. Walker may make a decision soon.

Two of the nominees, Sandy Shroyer-Beaver and Eugene Smith, have years of experience on Kotzebue’s city council. The other, Leanna Mack of Utqiagvik, said her community involvement makes up for her relative lack of political experience.

Shroyer-Beaver said her more than 30 years in politics have prepared her. She has served on city council and the school board and worked with regional tribal organization Maniilaq Association.

“I’m just a normal person,” she said. “I’m from Kotzebue. I wasn’t born there, but I was raised there. I lived there my whole life. I’m a mom. I have five children. I have four grandchildren. I work with kids. I’ve loved that for years. I worked for Maniilaq in the foster care program. Everybody knows me in our region.”

Shroyer-Beaver said she’d like to increase public safety in rural Alaska, including in North Slope and Northwest Arctic boroughs. She also said she’d focus on education and protecting Alaska Permanent Fund dividends.

“We have people who are counting on these funds they get every year because we have a shortage of employment opportunities,” she said.

Both Shroyer-Beaver and Smith are on Kotzebue’s city council.

Eugene Smith also has decades of experience in the city’s politics and has served as the mayor and with Maniilaq Association.

“Well, I’ve been on city council for 21 years straight and took a hiatus and now I’m back on the council,” he said. “I’ve also got tons of management experience, being the CIO (chief information officer) for the health corporation for many years, so I do understand budgeting.”

Smith said he would listen to constituents to determine his priorities. He said he would work closely with the mostly Democratic House majority on a plan to close the multibillion dollar state budget deficit.

“It makes a lot of sense to look at all the means possible to trying to resolve the state’s situation,” he said. “I just believe by working together, you know, in a nonpartisan way, I think that we can solve this problem.”

Leanna Mack is the only nominee who hasn’t served in political office. She’s the deputy adviser to North Slope Borough Mayor Harry Brower, focused on regulations that affect borough residents.

Mack doesn’t feel that drawing from permanent fund earnings will solve the state’s budget problem.

“I think that’s just a short-term solution and a long-term solution needs to be looked at, as well as all the other industries that are in Alaska and that are starting to ramp up,” she said.

Mack also has worked as a volunteer in the community. She works with local cheerleaders. And she’s become heavily involved in suicide prevention since the death of her brother’s best friend.

“The last several years, we’ve had the largest team during the community walks and we’ve also been the top fundraisers for the community walks,” she said. “And I think it’s another way for all of us to get together and catch up with one another, as well as continue to celebrate our friend’s life and the time we were able to spend with him.”

The district Democratic Party nominated the three candidates from a group of eight applicants. Walker has nine days to fill the vacancy. Kiana Democrat Westlake resigned after he was accused of inappropriate behavior with female aides and women outside of the Legislature.

Walker also must fill the vacancy caused by Sen. Mike Dunleavy’s resignation. Dunleavy resigned to focus on running for governor.

North Pole Rep. Tammie Wilson says fellow lawmaker Gabrielle LeDoux should resign because she failed to promptly respond to a legislative staffer’s complaint that she was sexually harassed by a lawmaker who was later forced to resign over those and other allegations.

The Anchorage Republican LeDoux chairs the House Rules Committee. She denies Wilson’s accusation.

LeDoux says it’s politically motivated and stems from a dispute over sexual-harassment training that all lawmakers and staffers are being required to take this year.

Wilson raised a ruckus a week ago when she issued a Friday afternoon statement accusing LeDoux of failing to follow up on a legislative staff member’s report filed in the spring alleging that the staffer had been sexually harassed by former Rep. Dean Westlake.

“The complaint was put in in March,” Wilson said. “And so it sat there for months and months, before anybody even knew it was there.”

Westlake, a Democrat from Kiana, resigned last month after more women came forward to accuse him of harassment. But Wilson said LeDoux should have acted sooner to investigate the case and punish Westlake, because taking care of legislative staff is one of the House Rules Committee chair’s main responsibilities.

Wilson is calling for an outside investigator to look into whether LeDoux and House leaders failed to uphold their responsibility to follow up on the complaints.

“Yes, Rep. Westlake has resigned. But what happens to those who did nothing? Something needs to be done – a third-party investigation needs to be done to find out who knew what when,” Wilson said.

Those others at fault, Wilson says, include House Majority Leader Chris Tuck and Speaker Bryce Edgmon.

Both are Democrats – Tuck is from Anchorage, Edgmon from Dillingham.

Wilson said they too should resign if the outside investigator determines they didn’t follow the Legislature’s sexual-harassment policies and procedures.

“We need to know why they hid for so long the accusation that they didn’t investigate immediately, that they didn’t make sure that others weren’t not going to be hurt,” Wilson said.

A spokesman for the House leadership declined to comment on Wilson’s accusations.

LeDoux said neither she nor the House leadership “hid” the staffer’s complaint, and she notes that Wilson admits she has no evidence for that accusation.

LeDoux said she initially wasn’t told about the complaint, which she said was handled by Edgmon, who confronted Westlake and urged him to resign.

“As far as I know, there’s been no other caucus in the history of the Legislature that has ever called for a member to resign,” LeDoux said. “And believe me, there’s been plenty of sexual harassment in the Legislature.”

LeDoux says she can’t say much more about it until a report on the issue is made public.

“Now that doesn’t mean that the procedure can’t be improved, and that is why we’ve initiated a legislative subcommittee to review our procedures, to review our sexual-harassment policy, so that maybe we can improve things,” she said.

LeDoux said Legislative leaders have instituted new rules requiring all lawmakers and their staffers to take sexual-harassment training, even if they’ve already attended previous sessions.

She suspects that’s one reason why Wilson is attacking her, because she says Wilson has refused to participate in the training, and in response LeDoux has threatened to cut off her authority to hire staff.

“For some reason, Ms. Wilson thinks that she should be exempt from this training, and doesn’t have to take it,” LeDoux said. “And that’s what annoys hers so much.”

Wilson said she won’t participate in the training because she’s already attended earlier sessions, and because she’s waiting for an outside investigator to be brought and for LeDoux and the House leaders to explain on why they didn’t move more quickly on the allegations against Westlake.

“It’s not that I won’t take the training,” Wilson said. “But I am not doing any other training done by this Democrat majority, until they are able to answer the questions on what happened.”

LeDoux said she also sees a partisan motivation behind Wilson’s attacks. She says conservatives dislike her and other Republican lawmakers who work with their Democratic counterparts in the House coalition.

“It’s simply a political hit job,” LeDoux said. “Because the Republican Party has a target on my back.”

Both Wilson and LeDoux said they’ll be headed to Juneau this weekend for the start of this year’s legislative session, which gets under way Tuesday.

Gov. Bill Walker will pick one of three finalists to fill the Alaska House seat left vacant by Dean Westlake, who resigned after he was accused of harassing female aides.

Utkiagvik resident Leanna Mack, Kotzebue City Councilwoman Sandy Shroyer-Beaver and Kotzebue Councilman Eugene Smith were nominated by the District 40 Democratic Party.

A majority of the 16 Democrats in the House must approve Westlake’s replacement.

Walker spokesman Austin Baird said the governor’s team is vetting each candidate’s background.

“He’s working to line up their travel schedules with his and he does plan on meeting each of the finalists before he does make a decision,” Baird said.

Walker has until Jan. 24 to make a pick.

“The governor is motivated to make a selection quickly because of the legislative session starting up next week,” Baird said. “But the key in this process is picking someone whose values and beliefs are actually in line with the residents of House District 40, so if it does take up to the deadline, then that is the reason why.”

The session begins Tuesday.

Men will be allowed to stay at Juneau’s domestic violence shelter in 2018.

AWARE  has run a 30-day emergency shelter for female victims of domestic abuse since 2012. A bill signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2013 declared that social care organizations must provide services to more than one gender.

The organization has been working on a way to safely comply with federal law.

“We are screening any survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault for a shelter stay on site,” AWARE’s Deputy Director Mandy Cole said. “Before if we had a male survivor who needed immediate shelter, we might put them in a hotel overnight. But we’re going to start screening them for immediate shelter here at our current emergency shelter facility.”

The shelter doesn’t only serve domestic violence victims. Cole said AWARE will continue to make space for women with children and no place to go.

“Because there aren’t any emergency family shelters, any woman with a child who is homeless and the child needs shelter for the night certainly, we’ll take that person,” she added. “Even if they don’t necessarily identify as a survivor (of abuse).”

AWARE encourages anyone seeking help to call its crisis line at 586-1090.