Meet Our Staff
Butler Center's child advocacy team includes:
Linda Cahill, MD, Medical Director
Karel Amaranth, Executive Director
Butler Center Staff
Child Advocacy Prevention Services Staff
Linda Cahill, MD
Medical Director, Butler Child Advocacy Center
Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Dr. Linda Cahill, Medical Director and founder of Butler Center, is an expert in forensic pediatric medicine. Since beginning her practice with abused children 21 years ago, Dr. Cahill has evaluated thousands of suspected neglected, battered and sexually abused children.
Dr. Cahill pioneered medically-focused, interdisciplinary child advocacy in the Bronx, NY. In the 1980s when child abuse professionals in New York City traditionally worked separately and rarely shared information, Dr. Cahill was a key figure in forging relationships between medical teams, social workers, mental health professionals, educators, child welfare caseworkers, police officers, and prosecutors.
Today Dr. Cahill partners with a dynamic multidisciplinary child advocacy team that shares talent and information under one roof at the Butler Center. The Center's medical-based approach is now a national model.
In addition to medical practice, Dr. Cahill educates physicians, future physicians and other professionals. She has trained hundreds of pediatric residents, medical students and practicing pediatricians at the Butler Center and she teaches child abuse evaluation and treatment to physicians and other professionals in New York City and surrounding regions.
"Butler Center training provides physicians with the knowledge and skills to identify signs and symptoms of child abuse. They become confident in addressing the multifactorial complex issues and needs of abused children and their families," explains Dr. Cahill. "It makes doctors more comfortable, knowing how to approach abused patients and their families, what to do in difficult clinical situations, and how to work with the multidisciplinary team. Another goal of the Butler Center training is that young professionals learn to respect and appreciate family stressors, understand the systems approach to child abuse diagnosis, treatment and follow up and know how to access resources for ongoing care for families."
Dr. Cahill co-chairs the American Academy of Pediatrics District II, Chapter 3 Committee on Family Violence. She is a member of the New York City Mayor's Criminal Justice Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect.
When not caring for patients and educating physicians, Dr. Cahill finds time to present to medical, academic and community audiences. She has authored papers and book chapters in the field of child abuse pediatrics.
After more than two decades working with abused children, Dr. Cahill feels optimistic about the power of child advocacy. "In the last 20 years, we've improved our understanding of child abuse, we've introduced the subject into the educational curriculum of professionals in all disciplines, and we have raised public awareness of the problem. Society has accepted the reality of child abuse," she says, adding, "Now it's up to society to continue to protect vulnerable children and make their futures more hopeful."
Karel Amaranth, MA
Executive Director, Butler Child Advocacy Center
Karel Amaranth has dedicated her professional life to the health and well-being of women and children. Her 30-year career in the not-for-profit sector has focused her considerable artistic, creative and executive skills on supporting positive change in the lives of families.
A through-line in Ms. Amaranth's career is her commitment to strengthening vulnerable populations: In addition to directing a number of Bronx-based not-for-profit home care agencies, she has served as executive director for the nationally associated Women's Action Alliance and for Victims Assistance Services in Westchester County, New York.
Ms. Amaranth firmly believes that "kids have a right to be kids." This conviction supports her vision to assure every child at Butler Child Advocacy Center the right to a healthy and safe childhood.
Ms. Amaranth works in many capacities to make her vision reality. This busy hands-on executive develops client services and recruits, trains and supports Butler Center's staff. She builds and nurtures relationships with a wide range of foundations and individual donors and a cadre of extraordinarily dedicated volunteers.
When confronted with challenges, Ms. Amaranth reacts with innovative solutions. After coming onboard at Butler Center in 2001, for example, Ms. Amaranth immediately recognized Butler Center families' urgent need for mental health services.
Within months she single-handedly put together several pieces of funding, found a building, proposed renovations and staffing and administered the yearlong process of turning an abandoned synagogue into a beautiful counseling center.
Named Child Advocacy Prevention Services, the center celebrated its opening in 2003 with a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony attended by Montefiore President, Spencer Foreman, MD, the Bronx Borough President and other public officials, as well as staff and colleagues, neighborhood children and families.
Since then, Child Advocacy Prevention Services has provided care for more than 500 children and families.
For the last four years the Prevention Services building has been home to Moving Mountains Project, an initiative conceived by Ms. Amaranth to address the multifaceted issues of child abuse among children with disabilities.
With initial support from the J.E. & Z.B. Butler Foundation, the project developed research and resources for children with disabilities and their families. The Moving Mountains team also created a web-based manual as an educational tool on abuse of children with disabilities for mental health and law enforcement professionals.
Moving Mountains has grown in scope and impact thanks to support from the Leon Lowenstein Foundation. Ms. Amaranth used the Foundation's grant to train staff, develop outreach strategies and organize an advisory board. The grant also supported design of new materials in consultation with Christine Pawelski, EdD, from the Center for Opportunities and Outcomes for Persons with Disabilities at Columbia Teachers College.
In addition to managing Butler Center operations and development, Ms. Amaranth stays active in child advocacy policy. In 2005 she co-authored landmark New York City legislation requiring review of child deaths. She has served on a national Expert Child Death Review Panel that was engaged to review the deaths of children in Nevada and make recommendations that dramatically changed the social services, health care and investigative interventions in that state.
In the fall of 2007 Ms. Amaranth was given the opportunity to conduct an intensive study of women's hospitals across the United States. Traveling from Boston to San Diego to Baton Rouge to Washington, DC, Providence, Rhode Island, Niskayuna, New York to Pittsburgh, she met with hospital CEOs and staff and researched the history, services, financial plans and patient demographics of each hospital for a comprehensive report.
Ms. Amaranth has hosted many foreign visitors at the Butler Child Advocacy Center who have been guests of the United States Department of State. In return the Department of State has arranged visits for her at healthcare facilities, governmental offices and social services agencies in Bogotá, Columbia, Prague, Czech Republic, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
A sought-after guest lecturer, Ms. Amaranth travels nationally and internationally to research, advise and speak on child advocacy. She has presented at the International Conference on Victimology in Montreal, Canada, the International Conferences on Child and Family Maltreatment in San Diego, California, and the International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect in Hong Kong, China, among many other venues.
She is currently writing a book inspired by her travels to women's hospitals, the children's health organization Saude Crianza, Renascer in Rio de Janeiro and the Child Death Review Panel in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada.
Ms. Amaranth has a Bachelors degree in English and Creative Writing and a Master of Arts degree in Fine Arts and Art Therapy. She is in the process of completing a Masters degree in Public Health.
In her "spare" time, Ms. Amaranth enjoys 30-mile bike rides, vigorous tennis matches and "working obsessively in my garden and pond," she says. Her three daughters and three grandchildren are her perpetual inspirations. "I'm very passionate about everything I do," she says. "And that keeps life balanced" and enables her to develop some of the country's most innovative child advocacy initiatives-for some of our nation's most vulnerable children.
- Medical team that includes physicians, pediatricians and pediatric nurse practitioner: Our specially trained medical team conducts forensic medical examinations that identify and document children's physical and sexual abuse. The team also provides court medical testimony to support criminal prosecution of abusers.
- Coordinator of Social Work Services and five full time social workers—including a Spanish-speaking social worker—who assess families, interview children, refer clients to mental health services and track follow-up care. Our social workers create a welcoming, supportive atmosphere for families that emphasizes family strengths. Specially trained to conduct forensic interviews, our social work team make children comfortable and use a non-leading protocol that lets kids share experiences in their own words. Properly conducted forensic interviews can be used as testimony-without requiring children's presence in court.
- A case manager from the New York Administration for Children's Services (ACS) works onsite at Butler Center at all times. A key partner in our multidisciplinary team, the ACS manager helps families and staff navigate a wide range of social services and programs. Our team relies on the case manager to weigh-in on decisions to pursue criminal prosecution, remove children from homes or refer support services.
- An administrative supervisor, who hires and oversees reception and other support staff for both Butler Center facilities, manages payroll and coordinates events.
- An accountant who manages Butler Center's financial administration.
- Two full time receptionists—both Spanish-speaking. Our receptionists are the first voices children and families hear when they call Butler Center. In addition to phone support that directs parents to critical staff and services, our receptionists provide families with a warm welcome and administrative help before, during and after visits.
- A fulltime housekeeper who keeps our facilities clean, attractive and welcoming to families.
Child Advocacy Prevention Services Staff
- Coordinator of Mental Health Services, who administers mental health services, supervises staff, develops trauma-focused and other mental health programs and conducts research on trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy for abused children and their families.
- Mental health team—two psychotherapists and one social worker—provides counseling for children, adolescents and families.
- Receptionist who speaks Spanish, provides telephone support and creates an organized, welcoming atmosphere for children and their families.
Like more information about our organization? Get details on Butler Center and take an online tour of our facility.
