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PARKERSBURG -- Calhoun County is now the fifth West Virginia county officially served by the Children's Listening Place.
Based in Parkersburg, the Children's Listening Place Inc. is a child advocacy center that works with children and families in cases of alleged abuse. It serves Wood, Wirt, Pleasants and Ritchie counties and has also provided courtesy services to Calhoun County in recent years.
"It became apparent that we needed to provide the full array of services we provide to the children of Calhoun County," said Greg Collins, Children's Listening Place executive director.
A part-time staff member was added, whose salary is covered by a grant from the Sisters of St. Joseph Health Foundation.
"We will apply for a grant from Encova this spring which would cover the position for three years," Collins said. "Our federal and state grants will always pay for the position in part."
The Children's Listening Place's application to provide official service to Calhoun County was unanimously approved March 4 at the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network's Board of Directors meeting. The fifth county makes this the largest child advocacy center in the state.
CLP began multidisciplinary team meetings in Calhoun County in January. Led by the county prosecutor, these monthly meetings include Child Protective Services, law enforcement, medical, mental health, school officials and other treatment professionals with the goal of holding offenders accountable and facilitating healing for the child, according to a release from CLP.
"(Calhoun County Prosecutor Nigel Jeffries) walked into my office one day last fall and said, 'I don't need sold on it; I've talked to several people in Calhoun, and I want to make this happen as soon as possible,'" Collins said.
A child advocacy center is a child-friendly facility with staff that works to provide children and families professional, compassionate care in order to reduce the trauma often experienced by children that are victims of abuse. Rather than having a child taken from agency to agency to endure multiple interviews, the CAC model brings the system to the child for one effective interview and a child-centered healing process.
"We are the busiest CAC of the 21 CACs in West Virginia, and we do much more than just interview," Collins said. "It was looked at in detail, by our staff and the board of directors, and the decision was made to move forward. Quite frankly, it's because of the amazing CLP staff that made this decision for me. If we couldn't do quality work for Calhoun, I didn't want to take it on. With this staff, there's no doubt that will happen."
According to WVCAN, 45 counties in West Virginia are now officially served by a CAC, with some courtesy services also being provided to other counties.
"We are excited that our network's official service footprint is expanding to the 45th county, bringing us that much closer to our goal of full state coverage," said Kate Flack, CEO of the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network. "Now, children impacted by abuse in Calhoun County will receive support from the outstanding team at the Children's Listening Place to heal from trauma, find hope and seek justice."
WVCAN provides training, technical assistance, leadership, legislative and policy advocacy and overall coordination to child advocacy centers around the state.