The Dorchester Children’s Advocacy Center in Summerville, South Carolina is a nationally accredited Children’s Advocacy Center, offering the community many benefits to assist children who have experienced significant trauma through child abuse and neglect. Serving both Dorchester and Berkeley counties, the CCME Foundation grant was used to help fund the Berkeley Children’s Advocacy Center initiative, a satellite center supported by Berkeley County citizens, supporters, the Center’s Board, and clients. Because of the financial and transportation barriers often preventing disadvantaged clients in the rural areas of the Lowcountry from accessing the Dorchester Center’s services, the Berkeley County satellite center will remove these hardships and help children and their families within their own community.

This new facility, which is being constructed on donated land, was supposed to open at the end of 2022; however, due to permitting issues, the Berkeley Center is expected to open later in 2023. The CCME Foundation grant supported the hiring of staff to replicate the clinical services available at Dorchester for this new satellite Center in Berkeley County.

The newly renovated Dorchester Center serves children and their families by providing forensic interviews and forensic medical exams for child abuse victims in a supportive, child-focused environment. Forensic interviews are fact-finding interviews where children are questioned in a non-leading, developmentally appropriate manner about their experiences. The forensic medical exams are non-invasive medical examinations conducted by trained child abuse pediatric providers, which will document any significant findings, diagnose and treat injuries, and note the child’s condition. In addition to the support of community and government agencies, the Center provides clinical treatment services, such as trauma-focused therapies for children and their families, support groups, advocacy services, and prevention and education for children, their families, and the community. Using a multi-disciplinary approach in a caring, nurturing environment, the Dorchester Center is dedicated to creating communities in which children and families live free from abuse and are free to reach their full potential.

One mother with several small children and no employment brought her children into the Center for a forensic interview. Because of what was uncovered in the interview, this mother decided that she needed to get her family out of their abusive home immediately and to another state where she had family that could help her. The Dorchester Center Victim’s Advocate was able to get her gift cards and supplies for the long trip, so she could get her children to her out-of-state family members safely. The Victim’s Advocate contacted the Child Advocacy Center in her new state to get the children the trauma-focused treatment that they needed, and the mother planned to come back to Dorchester for when the legal case against the father began. Both Executive Director Kay Phillips and Director of Grants Management Damita Holcomb reflected on this success story and the tremendous impact it had on their staff and the work they do for abused children and their families.

In partnership with the South Carolina Department of Social Services, law enforcement, solicitors, the Medical University of South Carolina, schools, and other medical and mental health professionals, the Dorchester Center fully embraces its motto, “Hope – Heal – Empower.”

To learn more about the work of the Dorchester Children’s Advocacy Center, please visit: www.dorchesterchildren.org.