The name “Safe Passage” is appropriate for an organization that helps children through the dark times, working hard to ensure they heal and thrive after being abused or traumatized.

It was launched as a nonprofit in 1994, under the umbrella of the Children’s Advocacy Center for the Pikes Peak Region. The National Children’s Alliance has accredited it as a children’s advocacy center.

“Safe Passage acts as a team leader in an inter-agency effort that minimizes the trauma to child abuse victims by centralizing services in one child-sensitive location,” said Emily Bowker, Safe Passage’s director of development, strategy and partnerships. “Safe Passage coordinates the responses of partners in the law enforcement, medical, mental health, social services and legal fields.”

Those other agencies are: the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office and El Paso County Attorney’s Office; the police departments of Colorado Springs, Cripple Creek, Fountain, Manitou Springs and Woodland Park; the Colorado State Patrol; the sheriff’s offices of El Paso and Teller counties; Colorado Children’s Hospital, Evans Army Community Hospital and UCHealth; departments of human services in El Paso and Teller County; The Family Center; and Kidpower Colorado.

Agency representatives, along with Safe Passage staffers including a clinical director, a forensic interviewer, family support advocates and a playroom coordinator, meet with children up to age 18 and their non-offending family members at the nonprofit’s location on Colorado Springs’ southwest side.

Safe Passage has provided free services to more than 42,000 child abuse victims and their non-offending caregivers in its 30 years, Bowker said. Executive Director Maureen Basenberg has led Safe Passage for more than eight years.

“Since 1985, the National Children’s Advocacy Center model has flourished across the United States as the ideal way to protect and support child abuse victims,” Bowker said.

“Children who are victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse or neglect, or who have witnessed domestic violence, homicide or other violent crimes, come to Safe Passage for critical forensic and healing services. These services include forensic interviews, forensic medical exams, victim advocacy and mental health services,” she explained.

In forensic interviews, children and teens give information to highly trained professionals in a comfortable environment. The interviews are recorded to share with partner agencies so children don’t have to recount their experiences over and over.

Specially trained nurses carry out sexual assault exams to assist in gathering evidence for prosecution. And family support advocates step in immediately for crisis intervention and referrals to resources in the community; those services are available even after investigations and judicial processes are over.

Safe Passage partners with The Family Center, a psychotherapy practice serving El Paso and Teller counties, to offer seven-week-long support groups. One group is for victims aged 13 to 18 and the other is for non-offending parents and caregivers.

This is the third year that Safe Passage has participated in the Empty Stocking Fund, making it the newest organization in the program. So far, it has received nearly $90,000 through ESF.

The needs range from $25 for one crisis backpack and $150 for one mental health session for a child to $2,275 for full forensic healing services for one child. That includes a forensic interview, advocacy services for the family, a forensic medical exam and mental health care for one child.

Bowker shared feedback from a child helped at Safe Passage. “I was starting to feel that what happened to me was my fault and they made me understand that it wasn’t and why,” the child said.

A parent said, “The advocate that I met with was amazing, she was very helpful and understanding and gave me a load of wonderful resources.”