LadyVols head coach Pat
Summitt
will be the guest speaker at the
Safe Harbor
Child Advocacy
Center’s
“Raise the Roof” party next month.
The aim of Safe
Harbor Child Advocacy is to aid severely neglected and physically abused
children in the area by assisting law enforcement officers, child protective services and other pertinent parties.
The group has been working towards building a child advocacy center for the
4th Judicial District (covering Sevier, Jefferson, Grainger
and Cocke counties).
“We’re one of the few districts that does not have one (a
child advocacy center),” said Safe Harbor’s
President of the Board of Directors, Donna J.
Koester.
In February
Sevierville city officials voted to approve
a lease agreement with Safe Harbor
for the establishment of the district’s first Child Advocacy Center.
The lease
agreement allows the non-profit
corporation to build its center on city-owned land on McMahan Avenue.
SHCAC President
Barry Fain said that the center
would allow abused children to get into counseling quickly and comfortably in
a child-friendly atmosphere. The center would provide
one central location for everyone involved, allowing for the child to recount
their story once, to a qualified forensic interviewer “who is trained
to speak on the child’s level,” Fain said.
Often a child
must be questioned at a police station, examined at a hospital and then
counseled at yet another facility. Housing these services under
one roof helps reduce potential stress for the child and the non-offending
parent.
Fain also said that Child Advocacy
Centers have shown to be helpful in prosecuting
these cases.
The Raise the
Roof party will take place on Friday, June 9 from 6:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. at the Music Road Hotel and Convention Center
in Pigeon Forge. There will be dinner, dancing and silent and live auctions.
Jay Adams of
Mix 105.5 will be the master of ceremonies joining Pat Summitt
for the evening.
Reservations are $100 per person or $800 for a table of
eight persons. Those wishing to attend should make reservations by Friday
next week, May 19 by calling 453-2638.
In one twelve month period, the 4th
Judicial District recorded 5,334 total cases of confirmed abuse/neglect. That
total broke down to 1,118 in Cocke County,
567 in Grainger
County, 1,561 in Jefferson and 2,088 in Sevier County.
For further
questions about the Safe Harbor
group contact Donna J. Koester at
453-2638.
