For seven years, Wren — a 10-year-old yellow Labrador — has been working at the Zebra Child Protection Centre, a facility that supports children who have suffered physical or sexual abuse as a case moves through the court system.
In 2015, Wren made history as she sat alongside a teenager taking the stand to testify against her alleged abuser. It was the first time a judge in Edmonton had granted an application for a support dog to sit inside a courtroom.
In court, there are strict rules barring any contact between a child and a support worker who may sit beside them on the stand. The legal concern is that contact from the support person could sway the child's testimony.
"When we have support people on the stand, we can't talk to that child or touch them or comfort them in any way but the dogs can."
🤔
Physical or mental abuse?
Any kind of sexual abuse?
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Yeah, I can easily believe that it's very easy to influence a child (and a testify of theirs), making the procedure more complicated. Too easy, even.
I fear that (too) many people use the method of asking many times a question until the answerer realizes there's something wrong with their answer and they alter the answer until the asker gets what they want to hear, no matter that they reply something that is false at that stage. (another way to achieve this would be torture)
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I'm glad that other animals have such uses.
Comfort is precious and I'd argue that this feature could be used in many places to make the world a better place 🙂
And even if the child's testimony is not really swayed, the defender's attorney could still argue it was, and it could result in creating reasonable doubt. I can't imagine what it would be like to be a child on the stand looking at your abuser and trying to form words without any support. You are right, comfort is so precious in those moments, and thank goodness we have dogs like Wren to help!
And to keep whatever (strong) feelings at bay that might try getting control over you while being in the same space with an abuser.
To act like a grown up, as a child, who has barely started developing the same tools to deal and talk about what happened than an adult.
Seems harsh.
Good to have the dog.