In a day and age when collaboration can mean the difference between success and failure, the team at the former Berrien County Council for Children and their Children Assessment Center in St. Joseph are re-branding to help foster the collaborations that have helped make them a juggernaut in the protection of children in Michigan’s Great Southwest. Effective immediately, the organization — after 40 years — becomes the Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Michigan.
The name change was announced by Executive Director Jamie Rossow, who says there were actually several factors that led to renaming the nonprofit organization which investigates, treats and provides therapy to children, 3 to 18 years old, who are victims of child abuse.
Rossow says the agency wanted to align with initiatives underway at national and state levels. The National Children’s Alliance (NCA), the accrediting agency for the Children’s Advocacy Center, is striving to create a strong, recognizable brand for Children’s Advocacy Centers across the board. The NCA wants such agencies to become “the undisputed authority that empowers local communities to serve and respond to child victims of trauma and abuse.” To tie in with the national initiative, the Michigan chapter is changing its name to Children’s Advocacy Centers of Michigan. Currently 94-percent of the Michigan agencies include Children’s Advocacy Center in their names, and Rossow says, “By aligning our name with them, we can leverage the state and national branding efforts locally.”
Rossow added that the center advocates for the best outcomes for all children in Southwest Michigan, noting, “Our highly trained team works side-by-side with law enforcement, Lakeland Health sexual assault nurse examiners, the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services and the Prosecutors Office. Every person on our team strives to reduce the trauma and compassionately meet the needs of the children and families we serve.”
Rossow said her unit’s programs successfully help hundreds of kids annually, but there are more who need their services. In the aftermath of recent high-profile sexual abuse cases in Michigan, the Children’s Advocacy Center wants to ramp up the funding for its highly acclaimed “Stewards of Children” prevention classes as well as implement “Play it Safe!,” a school-based child abuse prevention program. Rossow says, “Prevention training educates more children and adults on how to minimize the opportunities for sexual abuse and how to recognize and report it when it happens.”
Another factor for the change stemmed from including Berrien County in the original name. That tended to cause confusion as to who could access the agency’s services and who could fund it. Rossow said they serve children and families in Berrien, Cass and Van Buren Counties and that Southwest Michigan better defines their service area. She also explained that the agency’s staff members are not Berrien County employees. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Children’s Advocacy Center relies on grants and generous donors to help them provide free forensic interviews and therapy to their clients. She contends, “When Berrien County was in the name it impacted our ability to secure funding from foundations, corporations and donors outside the County.”
Another misunderstanding in the community occurred when “Children’s Assessment Center” was tied to the Berrien County Council for Children name, with Rossow saying, “Parents would occasionally call our agency looking for educational or developmental assessments for their children.” Now, she says, “The new name should help clear up that confusion.”
The Children’s Advocacy Center of Southwest Michigan is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves children of alleged abuse and their families in Berrien, Cass and Van Buren Counties. It uses a multidisciplinary team to investigate and respond to child abuse allegations. The goal is to reduce the trauma of these investigations and to compassionately meet the needs of sexually abused children. For more information about CAC’s services or to make a donation or to volunteer, visit swmichigancac.org or call 269-556-9640.
