Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office hired a seasoned therapist through a federal-funded program to help limit the trauma that child victims can face when recounting their abuse for judges and juries.
Counselor Kendall Patterson will lead the new “Child Survivors Justice Program” by teaching prosecutors, victim advocates and police how to understand and identify trauma. She will also explain in court trials the effect trauma has on children’s development and behavior as the state’s in-house expert witness.
The program’s goal is to better represent children when they seek justice against their abuser after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic crime.
State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said she learned the depth of trauma that child survivors endure during her time leading the Special Victims Unit in the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office. She hired two additional victim witness advocates in her tenure and used the $30,000 state grant awarded by the federal Children’s Justice Act Committee to create Patterson’s position.
“I worked directly with sexually abused children, as well as with children who had witnessed their sibling’s murder ... I tried cases where children were raped or murdered by their caregivers,” Leitess said in an email. “I was acutely aware that the aftermath of that trauma would have to be relived in a courtroom and would potentially impact the surviving child once again. The experience carried with me and I know that there is a need to help and protect children during their journey through the criminal justice system.”
Patterson is a licensed clinical professional counselor who previously worked as a therapist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress. Her background includes adverse childhood experiences, trauma-informed practices and working with individuals with disabilities. She will work with the Special Victims Unit and juvenile trial teams in her new role in the State’s Attorney’s Office.
Patterson received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Davidson College and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Towson University. When she isn’t working at the Office of the State’s Attorney, she works at a private therapy practice, a spokesperson for the State’s Attorney’s Office said in a statement.