[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 27 (Friday, February 17, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S904-S905]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               RECOGNIZING THE FAMILY & CHILDREN'S PLACE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to commend an organization 
in Kentucky that is working to build brighter futures for children by 
fighting the trauma of child abuse, violence and neglect. The Family & 
Children's Place, based in my hometown of Louisville, KY, has provided 
support to families and children in the region for over 127 years.
  And I am pleased to report that they are taking a big step forward in 
being able to accomplish their mission by the construction of a new 
Child Advocacy Center. This center will be a model for charities with 
similar missions throughout the southeastern United States by including 
charity services, law enforcement, child protective services, and 
prosecutors all in one location.
  The Family & Children's Place's mission is to strengthen the 
community through research-based services that heal the trauma of 
abuse, violence, and neglect and promote safe, healthy and stable 
families. They work to educate families to prevent abuse, respond to 
children on the very day that abuse comes to light, treat victims to 
reduce damage to their lives, and take steps to protect children from 
further maltreatment. They have created an array of services to 
prevent, end and treat these problems.
  And they do all this thanks to the generous donations of many notable 
Louisville area businesses and sponsors, and under the leadership of 
the group's president and chief executive officer Mr. Daniel Fox.
  Mr. President, I wish to bestow the gratitude of this United States 
Senate on the Family & Children's Place of Louisville, KY, and wish 
them continued success for many years to come. Their success can only 
benefit the youngest and most vulnerable Kentuckians, who need their 
services the most.
  Recently, the newspaper the Louisville Courier-Journal published an 
article highlighting the new Child Advocacy Center for the Family & 
Children's Place, and I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the 
Record that particular article.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Courier-Journal, Oct. 25, 2011]

           Family & Children's Place Has Money for Big Center

                         (By Sheldon S. Shafer)

       Family & Children's Place, a charity dedicated to helping 
     sexually exploited children, has raised the money it needs to 
     proceed with plans for a Child Advocacy Center at the old 
     Salvation Army site near Fifth and Kentucky streets.
       The Louisville Metro Police Department's Crimes Against 
     Children Unit and prosecutors from the Jefferson County 
     commonwealth's attorney's office also will have 
     representatives at the center, envisioned as the city's first 
     comprehensive site to help young victims of abuse or 
     violence.
       The center ``will be a tremendous addition to the 
     neighborhood, a top-notch project, and it will be great for 
     the kids who come through here,'' said Daniel Fox, president 
     and chief executive officer of the Family & Children's Place.
       The organization plans to move its existing Child Advocacy 
     Center from Fourth Street near Muhammad Ali Boulevard to a 
     site near the Old Louisville, Limerick and South Broadway 
     neighborhoods.
       Police investigators, prosecutors and contract 
     pediatricians usually have to come to the current office, 
     which is small, to interview or help victims. At times, the 
     arrangement results in multiple interviews and extra stress 
     for the children, Fox said.
       Consolidating services, including those of Family & 
     Children's Place's counselors, at the Kentucky Street site 
     should 14 mean help can often be provided more quickly, he 
     said.
       ``The idea is to get everyone together at one location,'' 
     Fox said. ``We hope to make it a national model for dealing 
     with child sexual-abuse cases.''
       The agency bought the property at 512 W. Kentucky St. from 
     the Salvation Army in 2009 for $450,000. The Salvation Army 
     left the site, which has a long history for use as a 
     hospital, rehab facility and command center, when it 
     purchased the old Male High School building four years ago.
       Fox said plans call for gutting and refurbishing the 
     18,000-square-foot structure and building several additions, 
     increasing the space to 22,000 square feet.
       The agency hopes to break ground by March and occupy the 
     renovated site by the end of 2012. The project will cost 
     about $4 million.
       In addition, it is spending more than $700,000 to buy a 
     vacant tract southeast of Fifth and Kentucky streets, behind 
     the former Salvation Army property, from the National Society 
     of the Sons of the American Revolution.
       The Family & Children's Place has worked out a land swap 
     with the commission that runs Memorial Auditorium. The 
     commission will give the children's agency a parcel (now an 
     auditorium parking lot) on the corner of Fifth and Kentucky 
     streets to be used for one of its additions.
       The children's agency, in turn, will use part of the land 
     it is buying from the Sons of the Revolution to develop 
     parking for the auditorium.
       Longer-range plans call for the Family & Children's Place 
     to use most of the rest of the land it is buying from the 
     Sons of the American Revolution to build a 10,000-square-foot 
     family-support center.
       The timing of the family center is uncertain, Fox said, but 
     the plan is to move the children's agency's main offices and 
     staff from 2303 River Road to that location. The family 
     center's cost is estimated at more than $2 million, much of 
     which is yet to be raised.

[[Page S905]]

       So far the children's agency's Building Brighter Futures 
     campaign, which began 2008, has about $7.3 million in 
     donations and pledges, including $2 million from Kosair 
     Charities and $1 million from the James Graham Brown 
     Foundation. The eventual target is $11 million, including 
     money for operations and endowment.
       Of the sum raised to date, nearly $5 million has been 
     earmarked for the Child Advocacy Center project, including 
     land acquisition, and just over $2 million for agency 
     operations. Most of the balance has been budgeted for the 
     endowment.
       The children's agency plans to borrow against the pledges 
     to get enough construction money to start work, Fox said.
       He said the agency has tried to keep neighbors apprised of 
     the plans as they have unfolded, including periodic 
     briefings.
       Herb Fink, an Old Louisville neighborhood leader, said the 
     neighbors have been working with the children's agency for 
     several years. He said they opposed an initial plan, since 
     shelved, for the agency to use Ben Washer Park, on the north 
     side of Kentucky at Fifth, for part of its Project.
       Renovation of the old Salvation Army site ``will improve 
     the neighborhood, save an old vacant building and cleanup an 
     eyesore. We want to be very supportive of this (children's 
     services) program that is of national significance,'' Fink 
     said.
       Family & Children's Place provides direct services to about 
     1,000 exploited children annually.

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