Laura Blanchard: Seeking comfort for children

PROVO — She speaks in a tiny voice, and she looks like your typical harmless grandmother.

But don't be deceived, Laura Blanchard is a woman of surprising strength and resiliency.

She took over the reins of Utah County's Children's Justice Center nearly 20 years ago and today oversees a client load of more than 1,000 abused youngsters a year.

The center offers support, comfort, treatment and guidance to children and families torn apart by sexual abuse.

"Many, many years ago as a PTA president in Orem, I became aware of the needs (of families and abused children) not being met because the systems — the police, the courts, the Division of Child and Family Services — didn't coordinate with each other. They didn't communicate. Cases would fall through the cracks. We saw trauma for children that was worse or as disruptive as the actual abuse," Blanchard said.

She set to work to do what she could about it.

She attended some training. She served as chairman for the Utah County Abuse Council and 4th District Court Victim's Rights Committee. After she heard a man talk about a kind of "one-stop justice center" in his state, she started to push for such a center in Utah.

Blanchard teamed up with others who were concerned. In 1991, the state Legislature approved the creation of three pilot justice center programs: one in Utah, Weber and Salt Lake counties. The centers were designed to be child-friendly and safe.

Children brought to the centers were treated with compassion and sensitivity by professionals who could assess their injuries, their mental and emotional state and minimize further damage as their cases went to trial.

"With kids, if you ask the same questions over and over, they think they didn't get it right the first time," Blanchard said. To avoid forcing a child to repeat his or her story for the various agencies, interviews were recorded. Counseling was provided for damaged families. Mentors helped children see better kinds of adults.

The centers proved to be very successful, and today there are 15 operating in Utah with two satellites.

Initially, Blanchard was a volunteer and busy mother of eight who was serving as president of the board. When the director left, she felt she needed to take over the directorship, although she had never aspired to the job.

"It was at a critical point. I felt I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see it through," she said. "At that point, my youngest was in elementary school."