Gala raises funds, awareness of child abuse prevention

In a former farmhouse in Hoffman Estates, children who have suffered abuse are interviewed by social workers one time, sparing them from the trauma of having to repeat their story to investigators.

Police watch from behind a mirror, while the Children's Advocacy Center of North and Northwest Cook County record the interviews.

Proceeds from a fundraising gala Saturday night will allow the nonprofit group to replace eight-year-old equipment that taped interviews of more than 400 children last year - recordings that can used by law enforcement and state child welfare workers.

"We're on pace to be doing many, many more this year," Executive Director Mark Parr said.

What's more, the annual gala will help offset funds left in limbo by the state budget stalemate, organizers say.

"It's events like this that have sustained us through the state funding budget impasse," board President Paul Christian said.

The budget deadlock "really has put a cramp" into a long-term vision to expand the advocacy center's "Safe from the Start," a program designed to intervene in the lives of young children who have been exposed to violence, Christian said.

State dollars are supposed to fund almost half the cost of the Streamwood-based program, but the advocacy center has not received any Safe from the Start payments since last July.

"We're very concerned about being able to keep that program going," Parr said. "It really is a specialized service, very unique. There aren't a lot of programs that serve very young children who've had that kind of exposure.

"We know what the long-term effects can be if there's no intervention offered, so we're really committed to try to keep that program going."

More than 170 donors and supporters gathered for the gala Saturday at Medinah Country Club. It's the biggest fundraiser for the advocacy center, with organizers hoping to raise $115,000 to $125,000.

Britten Follett, the event's chairwoman, also aimed to raise awareness about preventing abuse.

"I've taken it upon myself to encourage folks like all of you to make child abuse prevention a dinner table conversation," she told her audience.

Follett, a former broadcast journalist, covered the killing of Kelsey Smith-Briggs, a blonde, blue-eyed Oklahoma toddler who suffered abuse.

"You wouldn't think it would happen to her either, and as a result, she became a poster child for child abuse prevention," Follett said. "But yet day after day, I covered the same story as a reporter."

The advocacy center also celebrated John Huinker, a Niles detective sergeant who received the Champion of Children award.