The Windsor Police Service is seeing more and more child abuse investigations, which is stressing the importance of collaborations with community organizations to help victims after they report a crime.
Staff Sergeant Rich Sieberer with the Windsor Police Special Victims Unit says cases are coming in daily that they look at and review.
The types of abuse cases range from sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, mental health, and drug abuse issues.
Sieberer says that's why it's great to have organizations like the Windsor Essex Child/Youth Advocacy Centre, the type of collaboration he calls key to helping victims of abuse.
"They do what they do best, which is working with these clients, creating pathways with other organizations to ensure that just because the charge is laid and the court is over, there may be trauma involved with these children and families that they need help for for what could be multiple years. That's what these organizations are good for," he says.
Sieberer says the numbers have been going up every year.
"I think it's a testament to the Windsor Police being more responsive to the community and also community organizations working together to allow families to report these incidents and that they feel comfortable doing so because they know they'll be supported," he says.
In 2024-25, WECYAC provided services to 877 individuals, including both children and their caregivers, who were connected to 233 new cases, referred primarily through the Windsor Police Service and the Windsor-Essex Children's Aid Society.
The figure is up over the previous fiscal year (2023-24), when 735 individuals received services across 213 new cases.
The centre is one of just ten specialized centres in Ontario and the only one in the Erie-St.Clair Local Health Integration Network, providing a child-centred, safe location for children/youth to disclose their abuse to a specially trained team of professionals.