|
|
||||||||||
|
|
| Past Broken Link Award Recipients | Training Program |
| Past Broken Link Award Recipients | ||
|
ChainBreaker Foundation Broken Link Award Recipients 2005-Ruth Blanchard- Presented for many years of dedicated service to the Children experiencing the children's Justice Center. Barbara Curtis- An amazing woman dedicated to the welfare of the children and the center that protects them.
2004- "The Teddy Bear Ladies". Presented for many years of selfless service hand making teddy bears for the young victims of abuse. The 10,000th bear was made and presented and is symbolic of not only their commitment and dedication, but the love they feel for those they serve. We are truly grateful for their many hours of service.
2003-The members of the Utah County Sex Crimes Task Force are making a critical difference for victims of sexual assault and abuse, as well as child victims of serious physical abuse in our community. This specialized investigation and intervention task force was created in 2001 by an inter-local agreement between the multiple law enforcement jurisdictions, including the Utah County Sheriff and the police departments of local cities and towns; the Utah County Attorney’s Office, the Western Region of the Division of Child and Family Services, and the Utah County Children’s Justice Center. This multidisciplinary team effort enables well-trained professionals to work together to hold offenders accountable and to improve safety and healing for child victims and their families. This work is extremely stressful and it does require extraordinary commitment to work well as a team. But, it is the individual dedicated officers and workers who are making a very important difference in the lives of so many children. This community can be very proud of the dedicated detectives, attorneys, social workers, medical personnel, and counselors who are striving together to protect our children.
Accepting the award: Shawn Chipman representing law enforcement Megan Annis representing Child Protective Services Workers David Sturgill representing specialized Deputy County Attorneys Judee Gillies representing the Children’s Justice Center
Joint Award Winners: Paul Curtis recently retired as the Western Region Director of the Division of Child and Family Services. He was appointed to this position in 1994 at a time of crisis in this agency, after serving as a regional director of Youth Corrections and as the first director of the Utah County Children’s Justice Center. He pioneered the efforts to open the challenging work of DCFS to community participation, in order to better serve abused children and their families. His innate concern for people has nurtured and refocused those with whom he has worked to enable them to better serve the children and families of our community. He has remained personally focused and committed to responding to the needs of each child and family served. Paul’s extraordinary leadership has put children first, and enabled so many others throughout the community to become partners in a community shared responsibility to respond to the critical needs of our children. Marjan Martin Curtis has worked tirelessly to break the chains of abuse for children and many of their parents, as a child protective services worker and a social worker for Provo School District. Her deep concern for people, especially children, and her tireless efforts to search for every possible resource to help children and families to survive and heal are legendary. Without personal recognition and often placing herself at risk, Marjan has helped to break the chains of abuse for so many children. Some of these children have sought her out years later to share their heartbreaks and successes. Her compassion has even enabled those who have offended children to seek her help in changing their lives in order to heal from multiple generations of abuse. Marjan’s example continues to inspire all who have had the privilege of working with her in behalf of children.
Excellence Award: Susan Chasson’s tireless efforts to improve the lives of both children and adults in our community make her truly deserving of this ChainBreaker Award. Susan’s willingness to recognize the pain inflicted by child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence, and to step forward and volunteer to do something about these problems has made an incredible difference in our community. As a heath care provider, she has touched the lives of countless individual women and their families who might never have sought help for their abuse-inflicted pain had she not been there to listen and to help. At a community-wide level, Susan has effectively supported the efforts of the Utah County Child Abuse Council to establish the Children’s Justice Center. She has led the community response and support for the Center as the President of the Friends of the Utah County Children’s Justice Center since its creation in 1991. Susan has willingly shared her professional expertise in support of the Rape Crisis Team and the Utah Valley Sexual Assault Task Force. Her volunteer efforts established the vastly improved and victim sensitive sexual assault examinations now available at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center and the American Fork Hospital. When this program was recognized as the best in the state, she volunteered to help create the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner team for Salt Lake County to improve victim services there. Susan Chasson’s personal sacrifice, dedication and tireless volunteer efforts are enabling victims of all ages to receive the services that they need for safety and healing. She is an inspiration to all of us and truly exemplifies the heart and purpose of this ChainBreaker Award.
|
||
