Fulton Child Advocacy Center to Share Planning Space with Georgia Center for Children

Ribbon-Cutting, Open House Today, 25 September, @ 4 pm

Atlanta-The Fulton County Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) is pleased to announce that, as of TODAY, 25 September, it will be sharing its Planning Office space with the Georgia Center for Children. The Georgia Center will move its Fulton County clinical program and administrative offices to the CAC space located at 818 Pollard Boulevard, SW, Suite 301, in Atlanta. The move will be marked by a Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony and an Open House from 4 o'clock to 7 o'clock p.m. at the Planning Office. Speakers and guests will include-along with District Attorney Paul Howard-Lynette Young, chief of staff to Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin; Georgia Center Board of Directors Vice Chairman Laura Rother; Fulton CAC Program Director Kimberly Shellman; Beverly Jones, director of Fulton County's Department of Family & Children's Services; Fulton CAC Board President Barney Simms; City of Atlanta Deputy Police Chief Peter Andresen; and Fulton County Police Captain Benjamin Latham.

"We welcome the Georgia Center for Children to the Advocacy Center Planning Office with great pleasure," says Mr. Howard. "The Georgia Center's years of experience in working with abused children will be a tremendous asset as we move forward with plans to establish a full-service children's advocacy center in Fulton County."

The mission of the CAC Planning Office is to develop and build a Children's Advocacy Center in Fulton County using the National Children's Alliance model to improve the County's response to child abuse victims. The Fulton CAC will be a child-focused, facility-based program in which representatives from many disciplines-law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental health, medical, and victim advocacy-work together, conducting joint forensic interviews and making team decisions about the investigation, treatment, management, and prosecution of child abuse cases. The CAC maintains a website at www.fultoncountycac.org.

Georgia Center to Share Space with Fulton Child Advocacy Center (continued)

The Georgia Center for Children was established as a private, non-profit agency in 1987. The Center's mission is to facilitate healing for children and families who have experienced child sexual abuse. The Center's mission is accomplished by providing a safe, friendly place where the child can disclose the abuse to a trained interviewer on videotape; by providing long-term psychological treatment; by coordinating the agencies involved in the investigation of child sexual abuse; and by educating other professionals about child sexual abuse. These services are provided free of charge to children who reside in or were abused in DeKalb or Fulton Counties. The Georgia Center for Children's role throughout the criminal investigation is to focus on the child's needs, rather than focusing on the crime itself. The Georgia Center also maintains a website at www.georgiacenterforchildren.org for more information.

CONTACT: Erik Friedly, 404-224-0560 (office); 404-533-1381 (pager)