With the news that a $35,000 grant has been received, the dream of locating a Children?s Advocacy Center in Trenton has taken a large step forward toward becoming a reality.
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With the news that a $35,000 grant has been received, the dream of locating a Children?s Advocacy Center in Trenton has taken a large step forward toward becoming a reality.
The Green Hills Juvenile Advis-ory Board received word Monday that the grant, funded through the National Children?s Alliance, has been approved.
Dean Larkin, president of the Juvenile Advisory Board, expressed great satisfaction with the grant award.
?To be able to put this center together is a huge plus for the families in this area. It gives us a resource we haven?t been able to use until now,? Larkin said.
The proposed center will serve a 10-county area in an attempt to meet the state mandate that no child will have to travel more than one hour to an advocacy center. Currently, the closest center is the Northwest Advocacy Center, located in St. Joseph. The Trenton program would be a satellite of that center in its first year and would likely serve 60 to 70 children during that time.
The main purpose of the center would be to provide a place for the taping of interviews with children who have been victimized by physical or sexual abuse or by severe neglect. Rather than having to tell their story over and over for investigators and legal personnel, the child would be interviewed by a trained interviewer, with the conversation taped. That tape could be used by all agencies involved in the case. The child still may have to testify in court, but the trauma is lessened by not having to repeat the story several times to several persons, almost always strangers.
In an interview earlier this year, Mrs. Smith noted that the benefits of the center are three-fold.
?We don?t have to keep revictimizing the child,? she said. ?We want to be sure that we have accurate information to provide to the prosecutor and we want to be sure someone won?t be wrongfully prosecuted. Thirdly, we hope to give them (the victims) the counseling they need. They will have an advocate – someone to help them know what?s coming up.?
While the center is a great idea that serves a very useful purpose, the hold up has been the funding. With the $35,000 grant, the advisory board is still about $45,000 short in getting the project off the ground for its first year. Currently, donations are being sought from organizations and individuals within the 10-county area in hopes of raising enough funding to open the facility in March 2003. After the first year of operation, the center would be eligible for federal funding through a state allocation.
Mrs. Smith said the center would be a separate entity from the juvenile office, but will have its full support. While Mrs. Smith is retiring at the end of the year, her successor, Tammy Taylor, is a member of the advisory board and has been a part of the project from its inception.
Persons wanting to make a tax-deductible donation to the project may do so by mailing them to the Green Hills Juvenile Advisory Board, P.O. Box 471, Trenton, MO 64683.