Child Advocacy Center of Warren County opens new location

The Child Advocacy Center of Warren County officially opens its new location at 320 East Silver Street in Lebanon, Ohio. This new location more than doubles the previous space in Franklin and increases access to families throughout Warren County.

The purpose of the Child Advocacy Center of Warren County is to provide a comprehensive, coordinated team response to the most serious cases of child abuse in the community. It is considered on a national level to be the best practice model for investigating child abuse and providing comprehensive services to child victims.

The true heart of the center is that this collaborative approach reduces the number of times an abused or neglected child has to tell his or her painful story. A specially trained team of social workers, doctors, child protection workers, therapists, attorneys, victim advocates and detectives from all law enforcement agencies in Warren County work together to surround the child in support and begin the healing process immediately. These professionals conduct medical evaluations, therapy sessions and forensic interviews, and provide victim advocacy, investigative and prosecutorial services within a safe, child-friendly facility.

“Our team at the Child Advocacy Center of Warren County is a voice for our victims while providing the opportunity and resources for them, as well as their families, to heal,” says Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims.

“For Dayton Children’s, being a part of the Child Advocacy Center of Warren County means providing and supporting the medical and mental health experts who can give these children the best care possible, not just today, but in the future, in the hopes of a full and lasting recovery,” says Deborah A. Feldman, president and CEO of Dayton Children’s Hospital.

This additional space will include:

• A child-friendly reception area
• Two sound-proof interview and observation rooms for privacy during forensic interviews
• State-of-the-art recording equipment to capture the child’s account of abuse
• A medical exam room for children to receive a compassionate, timely investigative exam and avoid a trip to the hospital
• A family consultation room for private discussions
• Dedicated mental health treatment rooms for therapy
• A multipurpose room for group therapy and support groups
• A case review room for partner agencies to collaborate and discuss every case
• Office space for each partner agency for more efficient and timely reporting and case processing
• Office space to accommodate community outreach and education research

This effort would not be possible without the generous support of many organizations, agencies and individuals:

• Kathleen Porter Stolle
• Victims of Crime Act
• Mental Health Recovery Services of Warren and Clinton Counties
• Warren County Board of Commissioners
• Spence and Dana Cropper
• Owlcreek Consulting
• DP&L
• Frost Brown Todd LLC
• LCNB
• City of Springboro
• David and Amy Fornshell
• Vicki Giambrone
• Shannon and Russell Jones
• Josoli Advised Fund
• Lebanon Optimist Club
• Michael and Amy Lane
• George and Mary Alice Leasure
• Rittgers & Rittgers
• Eugene Rose Family
• Pete and Rachel Selby
• Jason and Tracy Tindall, Sr.
• Warren County Foundation
• Barney and Sarah Wright
• Ben and Sarah Yoder

The center is also a community resource for expertise, education, prevention training and information on all forms of child abuse and related issues. The community partners that make up the center include Dayton Children’s Hospital, the Warren County sheriff’s office and other law enforcement agencies, the Warren County prosecutor’s office, Warren County Children Services, and Solutions Community Counseling and Recovery Services.

Child abuse statistics:

• 250 children are treated at the Child Advocacy Center of Warren County every year.
• Three million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States.
• Four children die every day from abuse or neglect in America.
• Three out of four of those victims are younger than the age of 4.

In Ohio, types of abuse are placed in six categories. The following chart shows unduplicated number of new reports in 2013 and the percentage of total reports they represent. (Public Children Services Association of Ohio Factbook, 12^th Edition 2015-2016)

For more information, contact:

Stacy Porter

Public relations manager

Phone: 937-641-3666

newsroom@childrensdayton.org