Dog sworn in at attorney’s office to comfort child sexual assault victims

In this Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019 photo, Cook County State’s Attorney’s first facility dog Hatty is sworn in by Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx at the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.  Image: Camille Fine/Chicago Tribune via AP

CHICAGO — It was a real dog of a ceremony this week during a swearing in at the state’s attorney’s office in Chicago.

The newly sworn-in worker is a Labrador retriever named Hatty. The 2-year-old will be on a 9-to-5 human schedule. But she’s being asked to work like a dog, to just do what comes naturally to most dogs: show affection.

Her job is to ease the strain of criminal proceedings on young children and those with mental health issues who have been victims of assault. She’ll handle up to 200 cases annually.

Hatty is the office’s first emotional-support dog and was trained partly by inmates.

Cook County State’s Atty. Kim Foxx presided over Tuesday’s swearing in. Hatty stood on her hind legs over a table and placed her paw across a law book as an oath was administered.

Hatty’s primary handler and victim-witness specialist Stephanie Coehlo, left, holds the black lab as Hatty is sworn in by Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx at the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.  Image: Camille Fine/Chicago Tribune via AP

Hatty will join children in interviews or can sit with them while on witness stand, and can cuddle with them as well, ABC 7 Chicago reported on Oct. 26.

In hiring Hatty, Foxx drew from her own traumatic experience as a sexual-abuse victim when she was a child, as per the ABC 7 report.

“I can tell you, for years that I carried that trauma with me,” she said. “So imagine coming to an institution where you don’t know the people and it’s not just a welcoming place. [I want] to bring that experience I’ve had to try to figure out how we can lessen that anxiety for others.”  Niña V. Guno/ra

RELATED STORIES:

Dogs trained to offer support to troubled US veterans

UP debuts emotional support dogs for stressed students, staff