[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 21, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1325]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                COMMEMORATING THE PASSING OF PAT GOGERTY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 21, 2016

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, it is with great admiration that I rise 
today to honor the memory of my friend Pat Gogerty, who passed away 
August 26, 2016 at the age of 86. Pat was a pioneer in child welfare 
advocacy and created Childhaven, a program that changed the lives of 
countless abused children in Seattle and continues to serve as a 
national model for therapeutic child abuse programs.
   Patrick ``Pat'' Gogerty was born September 12, 1929 in Oregon and 
raised in Seattle. Physically abused by his father, and placed in 
foster care several times, Mr. Gogerty had a natural understanding of 
the abused children for which he would become an advocate.
  After serving in the Army, he became the director of Seattle Day 
Nursery in 1973 and fully transformed it from a daycare into an 
effective center for early intervention and therapy. The key tenets of 
the program continue to this day: three hot meals, an on-site nurse, 
speech, physical and play therapy, as well as support and education for 
parents.
   With the help of his brother, Seattle Deputy Mayor Bob Gogerty, Pat 
obtained funding for the program. Mr. Gogerty worked to identify abused 
children under the age of five. When parents were unable or unwilling 
to bring them to the center, he arranged for them to be transported to 
the center in a van. At the time, treating children regardless of 
parental participation was a revolutionary concept, but Mr. Gogerty 
proved it effective. In 1979, he commissioned a longitudinal study that 
found after 10 years, the children from Seattle Day Nursery were found 
to be significantly less likely to be involved in criminal activity 
than children from other state programs.
   Mr. Gogerty became a master of public relations and Seattle Day 
Nursery began to receive national attention. Shortly before changing 
its name to Childhaven, it was the subject of a major article in Life 
magazine. When funding for the program was threatened in 1985, I stood 
on the State House floor and read the story featured in the article, a 
child saved by Childhaven. The boy had broken his arm saving his 
brother, who had been put in the dryer by their mother as punishment 
for wetting his pants. Childhaven subsequently retained its funding.
   In 1992, The Patrick L. Gogerty branch of Childhaven opened in the 
city of Auburn, WA. Upon his 1998 retirement, Mr. Gogerty was 
recognized in a Seattle Times editorial titled ``Fighting for Kids 
Unable to Fight for Themselves.''
   Mr. Speaker, Mr. Gogerty was an advocate for the defenseless. His 
legacy will live on in the Childhaven, its renowned model of care and 
the children whose lives he helped change. His lifetime of kindness and 
advocacy left an indelible mark on the state of Washington and he will 
be dearly missed.

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