FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Dell Hayden Memorial Child Advocacy Center Becomes A Reality

Great Bend, KS 6/20/2012 — The Dell Hayden Memorial Child Advocacy Center began as a dream and today became a reality.  Representatives from law enforcement, prosecutors, child welfare, medical, and mental health services came together to sign the Interagency Agreement showing their support and pledge to support the multidisciplinary child advocacy center model and to incorporate its protocol into their own practices and policies.

“The purpose of a Child Advocacy Center is to provide a single forensic interview in a safe, child-friendly atmosphere and while giving non-offending family members support throughout the process and beyond.” said Laura Patzner, executive director of Family Crisis Center, Inc. “ I am so grateful for the group that came together with the same vision of helping children and families.”

The Child Advocacy Center will work to meet the goals of the children’s advocacy model to ensure;

• More efficient medical and mental health services
• Reduction in the number of child victim interviews
• Increased successful prosecution to hold offenders accountable
• Consistent support for child victims and non-offending family members.

The next step for the Child Advocacy Center is to equip the interview rooms and train multidisciplinary team members. 

"The Child Advocacy Center is named In memory of my mom, Dell Hayden.  She was the first Director of the Family Crisis Center and a champion of children.  This CAC will stand as a testament to her passion."

The Dell Hayden Memorial Child Advocacy Center is a program of the Family Crisis Center, Inc., a private non-profit organization providing advocacy and service to survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

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Two new programs under development

The Family Crisis Center is currently developing two new programs; Child Exchange/Visitation Center and Dell Hayden Memorial Child Advocacy Center.

The Child Exchange and Visitation Center is designed to provide safe exchange for children when visitation has been order in domestic violence cases. Trained Exchange/Visitation Supervisors facilitate safe exchanges by developing strategies that will limit or eliminate contact by the adults so the child or children are not further exposed to the emotional and sometime physical violence. When supervised visits are ordered, these supervisors monitor visits within the center’s visitation rooms to make sure appropriate interactions are occurring and the child remains safe.

The Dell Hayden Memorial Child Advocacy Center, named for the first Director and mother of current director, creates a safe space to complete forensic interviews of children who have reported being sexual assaulted or abused. A multi-disciplinary team comprised of law enforcement, prosecution, mental health, medical and advocacy personnel work together to interview a child in a comfortable environment without multiple interviews. This approach has shown to be less traumatic for children and has a higher conviction rate for the prosecution. The Dell Hayden Memorial Child Advocacy Center will have an interview room with cameras to record the interview, a team room so that the team can watch the interview and send questions into the forensic interviewer if more information is needed and a family room for the non-offending parent to sit and wait while the interview is taking place.

Advisory groups have formed to develop the policies and protocols necessary to provide comprehensive services.  Implementation will begin once everything is in place.