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MARIETTA - If anyone doubts the importance of the work at SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center, they need only view the handprints of children painted along its hallways.

The splashes of color are a testament to the number of traumatized children the Marietta nonprofit helps.

SafePath coordinates activities of agencies and professionals who offer intervention, investigation and treatment for alleged sexually and physically abused children.

The private organization receives most of its funding through competitive public grants. It opened in Cobb in 1996 on Austell Road near the intersection with County Services Parkway and operates 37 children’s advocacy centers in Georgia and about 750 centers nationwide.

In 2006, the Marietta center saw nearly 1,600 cases of abused children in Cobb and their non-offending caregivers.

“In the old days, when children came through the center with an allegation of sexual or severe physical abuse, or children who witnessed homicides, they would typically have to go law enforcement, talk to DFCS about whether or not they could stay in the home, and then they would receive a medical exam, talk to mental health professionals and go through the whole prosecution piece of the case,” said Jinger Robins, executive director of SafePath in Cobb.

“Today, the role of the advocacy center is to make sure we’re collaborating and coordinating all those agencies in one central location so families can get the best possible services.”

In light of recent child abuse cases that have captured headlines in Cobb and Georgia during the past week, Robins said there is a need for people to understand that there is no typical image of a person who abuses children.

“My first response is that most people think it’s the dark, seedy person who’s in a closet hiding, creepy looking or a stranger, and it’s not,” Robins said. “Most of the time it is someone who children know and someone who children trust.”

About one in four girls and one in six boys have been sexually molested before the age of 18 in the United States, which also holds true for Cobb, Robins said. Of those victims, about a third are 5 years old or younger, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children reports.

“People need to make it OK for children to talk to you, whether they’re your own children or whether they’re children you come into contact with because you’re part of an organization,” she said.

Veteran Smyrna police detective K.K. Wrozier has worked crimes against children for 19 years.

She works at SafePath interviewing children who are victims or witnesses of crimes.

“We learn new things all the time about how to do the interviews and how to do the investigations because there is so much technology now with computers and Web sites to go to, to track people down,” Wrozier said.

About 9- percent of sexual abuse cases against children go unreported, Wrozier said. Many children are critically traumatized by the time they reach SafePath’s protective care.

“Initially, when they come for the investigation or forensic interview, kids have told us that the hardest part of therapy was that the initial interview was so hard for them,” SafePath Director of Services Karen Nash said.

“They’ve been told frequently by the offender that, ‘you’ll be the one they pull out of here and you’ll go to foster care,’ and they’re terrified when they walk in here.”

Low self-esteem, isolation, depression and guilt are but a few of the problems child abuse victims must overcome. However, there are signs people are becoming more open to taking about their past experiences with abuse.

“The biggest trend that we’ve seen is that people and children feel safer about coming forward,” Robins said. “If there is an advocacy center present in the county or community, it is a lot different, because now they aren’t just going to a police station.”

Cobb Police Lt. Christine Nerbonne, head the department’s crimes against children’s unit, said SafePath is crucial to fighting crimes against children.

“We would not effectively be able to do our jobs without the SafePath advocacy center,” said Nerbonne.

mhoward@mdjonline.com