Last year, the Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center (MCCAC) completed a new addition to its home on Green Bag Road.
Monday evening the center showed off the new space – complete with a ribbon-cutting that included the Morgantown Area Partnership — and invited community members to tour the facility and learn more about services provided.
The 700-square-foot addition provides the center with an additional therapist’s office and a family advocacy room as well as a bigger space for collaboration with law enforcement, prosecutors, child protective services and medical professionals with whom the center works.
Executive Director Dr. Laura Capage said the additional space also gives the center more room for family work and group therapy and the ability to provide faster services.
“Over the 17 years we have been around there is, unfortunately, a growing need for our services in the community,” Capage said. “Right now there is a lack of mental health services for children. Most of the time there is a 3-to-6-month wait in the community.”
Since opening in 2005, the center’s mission has been to provide a child-friendly and safe space where they can advocate for children who have been abused or have encountered other adverse childhood experiences.
“This is a place where kids can be interviewed, educated and healed,” Capage said. “In many respects you can think of us as a mental health agency. We provide resiliency-building services, forensic interviews, therapy and family advocacy.”
The center provides programs for children and families from the ages of about 2 to 18 and any other family members who have also been impacted by the trauma.
“We provide whatever services the children need and their families need so that kids can really grow and mature into healthy adults who have a bright future,” she said.
There are four programs offered at MCCAC, with the main being the child advocacy center program that targets kids who have been abused and neglected.
Additional programs include a community education program with abuse prevention activities; education, and body safety education to help kids and adults in the community; a drug endangered children’s program working with parents with substance abuse disorders; and a preventative care program in partnership with Mon County Schools.
Those in need of MCCAC services will never have to worry about payment either because services at the center are always free, Capage said.
“We very strongly believe children who are in these difficult circumstances, it’s by no fault of their own. We want to make sure they receive the highest quality services without having to worry about how are they going to be paid for.”
MCCAC is a nonprofit organization that relies on the community for support. Capage said they are thankful for all the individuals who support the center and helped to fund the new addition.
To learn more about MCCAC, the services offered, or how you can volunteer or donate, visit moncocac.org, call 304-598-0344, or visit the center at 909 Green Bag Road in Morgantown.
