Advocacy Center Receives Critical Funding

June 30, 2021

Port Saint Lucie -

The area's first Child Advocacy Center received critical state funding and is on mark to open this fall, said Debbie Butler, president of Guardians for New Futures, the non-profit organization driving the project.

The center will house intake services for children in one place, reducing trauma experienced by abused, abandoned and neglected children by cutting back on the number of times they have to tell their stories, Butler said.

"Right now children removed from home for abuse have to go to the police station to tell their story, then somewhere else for a physical exam and then to another place for mental-health resources," she said.

The center, which received $1.3 million from the state during the 2021 legislative session, will bring many of these services under one roof. The center is expected to open in October.