Child Abuse Center in Danger of Closing

A safe place for children who suffered sexual abuse may not last the month. 

The Childhelp Advocacy Center on Waples Mill Road just outside the city limits will lose its national funding on May 14. Representatives from public and private agencies, including the ,  and the Commonwealth's Attorney, along with Childhelp board members and private citizens, met Friday to discuss their options and see what can be done to save the center. 

Childhelp is a national non-profit that helps victims of child sexual abuse. It funds five advocacy centers across the nation. These advocacy centers, like the one in Fairfax, use a different, more victim-friendly approach to investigating child abuse crimes, said John Harold, a member of the Childhelp board who helped bring the center to Fairfax.

Harold, who retired as a clinical psychologist in 2003, worked for and ran Children's Services in Fairfax County. He knows all too well the importance of having a welcoming and friendly location for victims. 

"In the beginning what would happen is there would be six or eight different people interviewing kids in different places at different times. That's just abusive," he said. "Now they come here. The victim has to only be in one place. We do one interview and it's recorded and then we don't have to keep doing it. The other thing we've found is that when we do it right and use a center like this we get guilty pleas [and] we don't have to go to trial."

Now the Fairfax location is now in danger of closing. A sudden announcement from Childhelp last week stated that, due to budget deficits and other undisclosed reasons, it will be withdrawing support for the center. Harold would like nothing more than to keep the center running, even without the help of the national organization.

Harold is afraid that if the center closes things will return to how they were in the past; victims will have to travel to several locations which aren't as victim friendly and undergo multiple interviews again.

"We've had volunteers paint the walls and do all kinds of things," he said. "This is special."

The center works in cooperation with Child Protective Services and police forces in Northern Virginia. Fairfax County and Childhelp operated the center in partnership for the past 12 years. They have been at their current location since 2008. 

Victims advocates plan to reconvene on May 11 to continue their fight to keep the center running in Fairfax. They are looking for help from both the public and private sectors.

Call Harold at 703-691-9208 if you'd like to help out.