Gallery: Local citizens raise their voices for the community’s children

Going Remote… For Good!
August 31, 2020
Natural Success
August 31, 2020
Going Remote… For Good!
August 31, 2020
Natural Success
August 31, 2020

On Saturday, local citizens gathered at the Terrebonne Parish Courthouse to speak, listen and provide resources as they continued the fight against pedophilia and sex trafficking. 

 

At the “A Voice for Our Children” event, representatives from various local organizations geared toward stopping offenders and helping their victims spoke to the audience from the courthouse steps. 

 

Lt. Travis Theriot and Capt. Cher Pitre, representing the Houma Police Department and Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, respectively, addressed the crowd. 

 

“The Houma Police Department will always have a zero-tolerance for child abuse, and we’ll do everything we can to bring perpetrators to justice,” Theriot said. 

 

Theriot went on to discuss sex trafficking, highlighting preventive measures parents can take for the safety of their child. “The biggest thing with that is parents need to be vigilant and make sure they know what’s going on with their children, make sure they know who they’re communicating with, and educate your kids on social media,” he said. 

 

Pitre, who has been investigating sex crimes for 24 years, detailed what happens when someone calls in a child abuse case. “The initial deputy goes out and speaks to the child, then one of our detectives gets called out. We then interview the child. Once the child discloses, then they go to the Children’s Advocacy Center,” she said. 

 

At the center, the child is interviewed, Pitre explained, and once the child discloses there, detectives make the arrest. The case then goes to the District Attorney’s Office, she said. 

 

“We [TPSO] stand strong against child sex abuse, and we will prosecute anybody that preys on children,” Pitre added. 

Lonnie Lapeyrouse, a licensed professional mental health counselor with Magnolia Family Services, took the stage next and shared a story of a 9-year-old girl who “had endured more abuse in her lifetime than any of us will ever see, endure, watch on TV, have the ability to imagine.”

 

Lapeyrouse said the girl, who he noted was his first case, was hallucinating and had a split personality. “That was about 10 years ago. I cannot count the number of cases that come across my desk of some of the most severe sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect cases,” he said. “It’s impossible to count them.” 

 

The Clinical Director at Magnolia, Lapeyrouse explained when health professionals and other citizens should report abuse and neglect to the authorities, such as local law enforcement or the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). 

 

  1. “If you see a child and that child has marks on them and they admit to you that they have been hit, that is a report for physical abuse.” 
  2. “If a child reports, sexual contact, sexual abuse of any sort, that is a report. We’re not looking for any marks on that one.” 
  3. “There is no law against being poor…It is okay for you not to have the resources that the family next door has. But there are certain things that we need to look for…Really and truly what you’re looking for is does the child not have what they need in order to stay healthy: no running water in the house, no electricity in the house, the kid hasn’t eaten for days, their clothes are falling apart. Those are the types of things that you’re looking for [to report neglect].” 

 

He also added that reporting an incident isn’t calling someone guilty, just that an investigation needs to be conducted. 

 

Lapeyrouse detailed physical signs of abuse: unusual bruising, welts, or patterns of bruising that cannot be explained; injuries where children usually do not get hurt, places like their torso, back and neck; burns that cannot be explained, such as cigarette burns or restraint burns; lacerations or abrasions to any part of the face or genitals; absence of hair or hemorrhaging beneath the scalp.

 

According to Lapeyrouse, behavioral signs of physical abuse to look for include a child being fearful of or withdrawn from others, or if they exhibit extreme behavior or aggression. 

 

Difficulty walking, sitting or using the bathroom; pain or itching in the genital area; torn, stained or bloody underclothing; bruises or bleeding in the external genitalia area, frequent complaints of stomach aches or headaches; STDs or other infections, are physical signs to look for, he said. 

 

Child victims of sexual abuse can be withdrawn, experience chronic depression and suicidal ideation, have a premature understanding of sex, struggle to maintain appropriate peer relationships and have sudden difficulty in school, among other behavioral signs of assault, Lapeyrouse detailed. 

 

The counselor reiterated that no one is labeling someone guilty by reporting, and they should not take matters into their own hands. 

 

“…Your job is to witness and be aware of the things and the kids and the people around you so that in the event that you see, that you hear, that you have a sign, that things come together and it sets off a red flag in your mind, that you can say, ‘That’s a sign. That’s a possible physical, sexual abuse or neglect issue. And I need to alert somebody about it,’” he said. 

 

More information on Magnolia Family Services can be found here.


 

Jenny Terrebonne, a survivor of child sexual abuse, shared her story for the audience. 

 

Starting when she was 9 years old, her father repeatedly raped her until she graduated high school, Terrebonne said. Her mother was locked in a room and beaten “over and over and over,” she said, and was forced to live a secluded life. 

 

Terrebonne recalled her attempts to report the abuse: “I tried and tried to report it — only to be called a liar, only to be called someone ashamed of having a parent who truly tried —  but no one knowing of the knowledge of the pain that grew behind the walls that we call the family home.” 

 

The survivor went on to say that after she left home, her father began abusing her little sister, and he was arrested after an incident leading to her sister to be hospitalized.

 

“Two detectives came and talked to us…And the same question was: ‘Why was it never told to anyone?’” she remembered. “And my answer was, ‘It was; no one believed us.’” 

 

One of the detectives shared a story of being raped by her father and mother, Terrebonne recalled, and told her it was her turn to be the voice and the light. 

 

“From that day forward, that is exactly what I swore to do: the voice for all children who were so consumed with the emptiness inside that they cannot find the words to say help, the light for the children who are so consumed by the darkness they cannot see the end of the tunnel,” she said, before challenging all attendees to be that same voice and light and “let no child live in fear from here on out.” 

 

Assistant District Attorney Bernadette Pickett, who is also the Executive Director of the Terrebonne Children’s Advocacy Center, gave sentiments after Terrebonne. 

 

“The Children’s Advocacy Center is a safe place for young people to come and tell their story,” she said. 

 

Pickett detailed the process after abuse is reported, from the interview conducted by a licensed counselor to arrest and prosecution. 

 

She said that some of the evidence can be difficult, as these incidents often happen in the privacy of a home and no one wants to say anything. However, Pickett highlighted the center’s work with the school system through the Family Services Division, opening up another avenue of communication so school counselors to report abuse. 

 

Pickett went on to note that the therapist helps the abused children until they are able to move on and have a safe and normal life. 

 

“Our goal is to make these kids whole. They come to us broken because they’ve been abused,” she said. “But it’s our job to try to help amend all of this and get them back on solid ground. So, we are here.” 

 

The Terrebonne Children’s Advocacy Center’s phone number is 985-872-5437. 

Robin Sasser, a school counselor who has been with the Terrebonne Parish School District for 23 years, spoke at the rally to shed light on children from hard places. 

 

“Children from hard places come from your neighborhood and mine,” she said. “These are the children you pass by when you’re walking in the aisle at Walmart, maybe a little dirty and you know something just isn’t right. These are the children that you see in the back seat of a car at a red light with tears-stained eyes, and you just know something isn’t right.” 

 

Sasser outlined stories of neglect and sexual, physical and emotional abuse and that she’s come across during her years in the school system. 

 

“I’ve heard stories of emotional abuse, and this is mostly true for children who struggle with sexual identity,” Sasser said. “Our LGBT children are seldom understood and accepted by their peers and family. They’re often prone to bullying at school. And many of them feel trapped in a body that doesn’t feel right and ridiculed for a love that just comes natural to them.” 

 

She continued: “Many of our minority and African-American children come from a cultural experience different from their peers and educators, and these cultural differences instead of being understood, are sometimes used against them, which leads to a subtle emotional scar.” 

 

Sasser also touched on the three “totally different worlds” of those in poverty, the middle class and the upper class. “And sometimes if a child in poverty is put in a middle-class situation, they’re misunderstood, ridiculed and emotionally damaged,” she said. 

 

No other population suffers more from abuse than children with mental and physical disabilities, Sasser said, before citing a study published by the World Health Organization that found that children with disabilities are four times more likely to experience violence than their non-disabled peers and over five times more likely to be victims of sexual abuse. 

 

“When we as parents, educators and community leaders do not connect or attend with the needs of our children, we run the risk that they will turn to a subculture to find friendship, a connection and a place to call home,” Sasser said. 

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, sexual predators know this, and those who engage in sex trafficking know this,” she continued. “They know when we don’t connect, attune with our very children — in our very house — they are going to look for love in maybe the wrong place.” 

 

Carolyn McNabb, Executive Director of the Louis Children’s Crisis Center in Houma, a shelter for abused and neglected children, talked about the dangers of social media. 

 

She shared a story of a 13-year-old staying at the home who, within days of creating a social media page, had over 1,000 followers; most of whom, McNabb noted, were adult men. 

 

“I want to tell you that these people are relentless. They scour the internet, looking for opportunities. They know that our children are vulnerable and are looking for friendships and for love,” she said. “…And if you think you’re monitoring your own child’s use of electronics: good for you, good job…But I’m telling you that they’re going somewhere. And some friend of theirs is going to give them a phone, and the odds are, they’re going to end up accessing some things that you don’t want him to have access to.” 

 

More information on the crisis center can be found here

 

Attendees were also provided resources at the event, as area organizations handed out pamphlets containing information on what they do and how they can help victims of abuse. 

 

In addition to the entities that the above-mentioned speakers represented, the Bikers Against Child Abuse Bayou Region Chapter and the Mama Bear Effect were in attendance. 

 

Amber Hughes, a licensed professional counselor with the Mama Bear Effect, said from her conversations with people, she realized that people aren’t comfortable talking about sexual abuse, and many locals don’t believe it happens in the area. 

 

She went on to say that an event like the A Voice for Our Children needed to happen to bring more light to the issue and help educate the public “on how they can have conversations with their children and other adults in their lives to protect kids.” 

 

Hughes distributed educational resources that detailed how parents can talk to their children about protecting their bodies and how to spot the signs and symptoms of abuse, among other information. 

 

More on the Mama Bear Effect can be found here. 

 

After being treated to pastalaya by Allegiance Home Lending, ralliers walked to the front of the Courthouse Square to protest on the side of Main Street. 

 

Passersby could see vibrant handmade signs while hearing “save our children” and “our kids are not for sale,” among other chants, as they drove by the courthouse. 

 

“Standing out at the road yelling seems like it doesn’t do a whole lot,” said Zachary Phillips, event organizer. “But these people are passing, seeing the signs, hearing us chanting, so it’s bringing awareness. This will get them thinking.” 

After the demonstration, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Tim Soignet spoke with citizens at the rally. 

 

He said the Sheriff’s Office is working out the logistics to create a Special Victims Unit. “We’re concentrating on domestic violence and crimes against children because those are the two big things that we have here,” Soignet said. 

 

Soignet opened up about the emotional toll child sex crimes can take on police officers, after recalling one of his first cases where a 4-year-old child was raped by a 45-year-old man — who was arrested and confessed to the crime within hours of the report. He said the offender is doing life in prison, “where he needs to be.” 

 

Soignet also told attendees to not hesitate to reach out to the Sheriff’s Office or him personally. 

 

“When it comes to victims, I’m going to protect victims,” Soignet said. “We have to protect victims, whether they’re children or adults or whatever the case may be. I support, 100 percent, protecting our children ‘cause that is the future of our country. And that’s the future of our parish.” 

 

Phillips said he feels the rally was a success and is planning to make it an annual event. 

 

Local officials have told him they have seen more activity in regard to human trafficking on the federal level since the country has “taken a stand on this,” said Phillips, who shared that he is also a child sexual abuse survivor. 

 

“We want to see this end,” he continued. “At the end of the day, even if these men have these thoughts, they need to realize they can’t act on it. You can get life in prison for it — that’s what they need.” 

 

More information on A Voice for Our Children and videos of the speeches can be found here.