The 10-year-old girl sat alone in the interview room.

As she colored a picture, she prayed out loud.

"Dear Jesus," she began, "Why did this have to happen to me? Why did he do this to me?"

Then she asked that her grandfather not get into too much trouble, because she is the one who told their "secret."

The girl's petition emotionally floored the team of counselors and investigators who were watching the live interview at Lancaster County Children's OASIS, a center where young victims of physical and sexual abuse can safely talk about the harm they have suffered.

When the grandfather and his lawyer later viewed the tape of the girl's conversation with Jesus, they threw in the towel.

The grandfather confessed to sexually abusing his granddaughter. He awaits sentencing in Lancaster County court.

OASIS, which stands for Organizations for Allied Safety Intervention and Support, marks its one-year anniversary this month.

The nonprofit child advocacy center opened at 531 N. Lime St. to give victims of sexual assault a safe and comfortable place to go over the details of the crimes against them.

The victims and their parents also are introduced to a team of counselors who will support them through the legal process, as well as help them recover emotionally.

The counselors come from the YWCA's Sexual Assault Prevention and Counseling Center, headed by Deb Francis Werner.

OASIS is a premier example of what can be accomplished when public agencies share their turf and expertise, as well as funds, to combat child sexual abuse, say proponents.

So successful is the coalition that it has gone from a part-time service to a full-time mission.

On April 9, OASIS, funded through Lancaster General, signed a full-time contract with Children and Youth Social Service Agency.

The program has gone from one to four days a week.

Because OASIS shares its space with two other health-service agencies, it is looking to move to its own headquarters, said Heidi F. Eakin, first assistant district attorney and a founder of OASIS.

150 interviews
In the past year, OASIS has interviewed 150 children.

Eakin expects the number of interviews to grow now that the agency is full time.

"I estimated we'd need to expand in about five years," Eakin said. "But it has just exploded. It's miraculous."

In 2006, the agency investigated 621 cases of alleged physical crimes against children, said Robin M. Boyer, a supervisor at Children and Youth, said. Of those, 207 were sexual in nature, Boyer said.

A key to OASIS' success is Kari Stanley, a forensic interviewer.

Stanley, 35, a native of Lancaster County, was hired last year through a $30,000 grant from Children and Youth.

Lancaster General has picked up Stanley's $60,000 full-time salary.

Stanley works with a team of child advocates, detectives and county prosecutors assigned to each case.

The victim is interviewed once rather than several times by police, doctors, counselors and lawyers.

Reduces trauma
A once-and-done interview reduces the trauma a child experiences when having to tell the story repeatedly to strangers, Eakin said.

One of OASIS' first clients was the little girl who prayed.

"I was very, very happy to learn that she would be interviewed one time," said her mother, who has asked to remain anonymous. The experience, said the mom, "was very comforting for my daughter.

"Everybody was so nice."

Parents are not allowed to watch the interview as children often hold back information if they know Mom and Dad are watching.

Stanley said she lets the child know everything that's going to take place. She asks whether the child can find the video camera and the microphone in the room. It isn't a difficult assignment as the camera is mounted on the wall and the triangular-shaped microphone sits on a nearby table.

Usually, Stanley said, the child forgets about the camera.

Often, the tape is presented as evidence.

The impact and subsequent relief can be immediate, as it was with the grandfather's confession.

Two confessions
Detective Chris DePatto of the city police department's special investigations unit said such confessions have happened twice in his cases this past year.

"I don't think there's any worse crime" than child sexual abuse, said DePatto, who handled the case involving the little girl who prayed.

And each investigation needs to be handled professionally and carefully, always with the child in mind, said DePatto, who keeps the girl's school picture on his desk.

"OASIS is not a police station where kids are afraid," DePatto said. "It's a neutral place that's warm and friendly."

OASIS, Eakin said, "has raised the investigation standard overall."

She said all of the county's police departments are signed onto the coalition and practice its specially designed protocol, part of which is that police officers do not interview the child.

When a child is first brought to OASIS, Stanley knows nothing of the alleged abuse. She is trained to conduct the interview without asking leading questions, which can jeopardize the prosecution's case.

Frees others
Sometimes the interview actually exonerates a suspected abuser.

Stanley tells the story of a young girl who told her mother a friend of the family had raped her. During the interview, Stanley learned the suspect had kissed the girl on the cheek. The mother admitted she told her daughter kissing would make her pregnant to scare her away from sexual activity.

As for successfully prosecuting those who truly prey on children, District Attorney Don Totaro said his office is "seeing the results of OASIS in court."

He calls Eakin and former prosecutor John H. May "driving forces" in the program, which brings everyone together for the child.

All three prosecutors sadly think of the suspects that got away with their crimes in the years before OASIS.

Eakin, who has prosecuted child abuse cases for almost all of her 20 years in the DA's office, said the taped evidence is powerful because, without it, most jury members have a difficult time understanding how much the child was hurt.

The community, she said, does not like to believe that people are capable of abusing children in such a way.

"I still cannot believe what people do to their babies," she said.

Sexual abuse, she said, has no social or economic boundaries.

Both Eakin and Totaro are running for Lancaster County judgeships in this primary.

Murder a month
Children's OASIS was a dream long held by Eakin. But a couple of years ago, her passion was spurred into action when she found herself prosecuting a child murder each month.

Children were dying and suffering physical torture because the methods to report, investigate and prosecute such crimes were disjointed, Eakin said.

OASIS is an attempt to pull it all together.

Detective Sonja Stebbins, a supervisor in the city police department's special investigations unit, called the team approach to prosecuting child abuse "refreshing."

"Legally there are things we can't do, that Children and Youth agents can, and vice versa," she said.

The social worker may be able to help get the suspected abuser out of the house, giving police an opportunity to talk to the alleged victim, Eakin said.

Usually, the police talk to the person in whom the child confided about the abuse, she said. But if they have to talk to the child, the questions are kept to a minimum, just enough to give officials cause to begin the investigation.

Children and Youth workers and the police are mandated reporters, meaning they don't have to believe or disbelieve the child, but they have to report allegations of abuse.

May, the former prosecutor now in private practice, serves on the board of OASIS.

"Everybody is on the same page with the same goals in mind," he said.

The gears are in place.

Another important cog in the process is health care.

Besides the video conference room and the cozy interviewing area, a medical exam room is available at OASIS.

Dr. Cathy Hoshauer, a pediatrician, and a specially trained physician assistant are on call to examine victims.

A second physician's assistant is undergoing training, Stanley said.

Hoshauer, after 17 years of providing such round-the-clock service, has established a specialty. She said in most cases there is no physical evidence that can be photographed or collected.

"That's because of the nature of the crime," said Hoshauer, who practices at Roseville Pediatrics.

Typically, young victims don't immediately report the abuse, sometimes going months and years before confiding in someone.

Also, Eakin said, the predator is diabolically good at what he does.

"He has prepared and primed the child for what he is about to do, so physically there is little evidence of sexual activity."

Yet, Hoshauer said the exam is an important part of the child's recovery, because she can be reassured that she "looks normal and healthy."

While Hoshauer is the lead physician in sexual abuse examinations, Lancaster General has added three emergency room nurses trained in examining children who've been sexually abused. They are called SAFE nurses, or sexual abuse forensic experts.

The hospital has SAFE nurses for victims 13 years and older, but young children are a separate issue.

The cases the emergency room is called on to handle happened within the previous three days. Investigators say evidence may still be on the child in the first couple of days after the assault.

Jane Howett, SAFE coordinator at Lancaster General, said the hospital conducted about a dozen child sex- abuse exams in the past year.

Beside paying for the nurses' training and exam time, Lancaster General bought two colposcopes, which allow doctors and nurses to closely examine the child's genitalia for bruising, scars and other physical signs of abuse. Each colposcope costs $12,000 to $15,000.

Lancaster General also provided OASIS $20,000 in startup funds, and will finance its move to its own site.

Alice Yoder, director of community health at Lancaster General, said the investment is worth it.

"We hope to prevent child abuse through professional investigations that help us identify the root causes," Yoder said. "Child abuse is a community problem."

Sexual abuse doesn't just harm the child emotionally. A recent study shows that it leads to many chronic illnesses.

Yoder said the Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACE study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and released this year shows that adults who were abused as children suffer from depression disorders, as well as diabetes, heart disease and gastrointestinal illnesses.

OASIS will begin to help the community address the issue of child abuse. "We need to start talking about it," Yoder said, "to begin the healing process and prevent more cases."

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Judy A. Strausbaugh is a political writer for the Sunday News. She can be reached at 291-8689 or jstrausbaugh@lnpnews.com.