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A Child Advocacy Center will soon open inside the old Burritt College Library building in Spencer.
The county approved a quit claim deed transferring possession of the property from the Burritt College Alumni Association to the county. The county then approved a four-year lease agreement with the Children’s Advocacy Center to establish a satellite office on the property. Executive Director Cassell Galligan-Davis said the new office will better serve children suffering from child abuse in Van Buren County.
“Currently children have been having to come down the mountain sometimes 45 minutes with their families when they are in one of the worst times of crisis they have ever been in,” Galligan-Davis said. “To tell one of the hardest stories they have ever had to tell, so now we can provide that service in Van Buren County.”
Galligan-Davis said the Advocacy Center has staff that are specifically trained to interview children who are victims of child abuse. Galligan Davis said the goal is to begin providing services at the new location in October.
“We already have portable forensic interview equipment,” Galligan-Davis said. “So that’s already in place. We already have furniture for it so we are hoping that once we can get in, it won’t take us long to get set up.”
The Children’s Advocacy Center of the 31st Judicial District serves local kids. Galligan-Davis said Van Buren County made up a small portion of the cases they handled at the McMinnville office. Galligan-Davis said she wants to provide services for anyone who needs them in Van Buren.
“The percentage in Van Buren is smaller,” Galligan-Davis said. “But we still have them in Van Buren County and that’s what matters. Child abuse doesn’t pick where it happens, it happens everywhere in every community. I think we can do a much better job serving Van Buren County when we are in Van Buren County.”
Galligan-Davis said the old Burritt College Library was an ideal location for the new office as it has a great layout and minimal work would need to be done. Galligan-Davis said the building is set up more like a living room and not an office which makes it more child and family-friendly.
