Safe
Harbor Child Advocacy, Inc., a non-
profit
organization designed to help streamline all incidents of sexual abuse,
physical abuse and severe neglect involving child-victims is one step closer
to having its first physical location to begin offering services to children
of the 4th Judicial District, including the counties of Sevier, Grainger,
Jefferson and Cocke.
During
their regular scheduled meeting on February 20, the Sevierville Board of
Mayor and Aldermen approved a
lease agreement, previously approved
and signed by Safe
Harbor’s
president, Barry Fain, on behalf
of the board of directors.
The
agreement provides Safe Harbor
with a twenty-five year agreement for land on which to build their first
facility. The agreement provides
for two ten year
extensions to the lease, before needing to renegotiate.
The
leased property, located next to
the Boys & Girls Club, fronts Dolly
Parton Parkway in Sevierville. The facility will
be accessed from side streets connecting to the parkway.
Safe Harbor
is now beginning to seek the assistance of architects and builders to begin
with the next phase of their work, preparing for the construction of the
facility.
When
asked how much the non-profit
expects to spend on construction, Safe
Harbor’s
executive director, Donna Koester, states, “We hope to walk away owing
nothing.” Koester notes that there has been a groundswell of
support for Safe
Harbor’s mission
to help child-victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect. “We
have several groups from the community that have stepped forward to offer a
variety of in-kind donations and services, which will go a long way in
helping us make this a reality”, notes Koester.
“The
Sevierville location is planned to be one of two or more locations in the 4th
Judicial District where Safe Harbor can coordinate with the Courts, law
enforcement, the District Attorney General’s office, Child Protective
Services and mental health professionals
to deal with incidents of abuse perpetrated upon children”, adds
Fain.
The
minimum goal is to have two comparable facilities, one to serve Jefferson and Grainger counties while another serves
Cocke and Sevier counties.
Both
facilities would have the capacity to conduct forensic interviews via
specially trained personnel and medical examinations from partnerships with
specially trained medical practitioners in the area. Child Protective
Services and law enforcement would be able to maintain office space at the
facilities in their respective service areas, so as to expedite their
investigative needs. Additionally, the facilities will afford space for
post-trauma counseling for child-victims and non-offending family members by
licensed therapists schooled in the counseling of child abuse victims
