Utah Children’s Justice Center to help kids at center of Amber Alert

SALT LAKE CITY — Investigators are carefully working to help two toddlers at the center of Monday’s Amber Alert in Riverdale not only talk about what they’ve gone through, but also help them heal from the trauma.

The work to help the kids will be done through the Utah Children’s Justice Center program.

Former Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank has seen firsthand what the center does for kids.

“It is one of the more successful things that I have ever seen in policing in the last 30, 40 years.”

Main goal is to help the children

Burbank said while they do want to try to get some information to help with their case, the main goal is to help the kids. The goal isn’t just about helping the kids now, but in the years to come.

“We want to create good, long-lasting, stable individuals well into the future,” Burbank said. “That’s how we break this cycle of violence that we frequently see within families.”

Burbank said the center does a great job of helping kids in ways officers cannot.

The Weber-Morgan Children’s Justice Center Director, Scott Brenkman,  said that building rapport and being patient with them is a huge part of that.

Ideally, the kids will be willing to open up enough to talk about what they’ve gone through, but whether that happens or not, the center’s goal is simply to try to reduce that trauma.

“It does give you a really good feeling to know that hopefully you’re helping them deal with this horrific situation that they’ve had.”

Brenkman said the goal is to try and reduce their trauma in some way and hopefully set them on a path to healing in the years to come.

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