In the heart of Hackensack, the Audrey Hepburn Children’s House at Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital, a state-designated Regional Diagnostic Center for child abuse and neglect, is providing much-needed services for infants, children, adolescents and their family members who are suspected victims of abuse. Recently, the team at the Children’s House came together to create a DIY fundraiser to help support their important work. 

The Audrey Hepburn Children’s House addresses all aspects of child abuse, through provision of individual and group therapy from play therapy to art therapy, medical and mental health examinations, parenting skills and family therapy and professional education, while ensuring patients and families are treated with respect and compassion. 

Since the Audrey Hepburn Children’s House opened, it has happily provided medical and mental health assessment and treatments at no cost to children and families from Bergen, Hudson, Morris, Passaic and Sussex counties. Although the Audrey Hepburn Children’s House is fortunate to receive grant funding to support some of their services, more than half of the cost for service remains a deficit. Additional funds are needed to provide the scope of services necessary to fully support victims, and even more so, to provide programming to prevent abuse.

“The work of the Audrey Hepburn Children’s House is so important and, historically, we have done a tremendous job in evaluation and treating children who have experienced maltreatment, but there needs to be greater efforts exerted to prevent abuse,” says Brett Biller, Psy.D., mental health director and section chief at the Audrey Hepburn Children’s House at Hackensack University Medical Center. 

“We created this DIY to raise funds so we can continue providing the necessary care to these children and families and also educate the community about abuse. More often than not, many turn away from the subject of abuse because it can be challenging to digest, but turning toward the subject of abuse, through expanded prevention efforts, will be the difference that will result in a meaningful and lasting impact. We need the community to help us do that.”

To learn more about the Audrey Hepburn Children’s House’s special DIY fundraiser, or how you can help support it, contact Natalie Tessoun, executive director, Children’s Health at natalie.tessoun@hmhn.org.