North Star Child Advocacy Center (NSCAC) has dissected the number of forensic interviews that took place during the 2024 calendar year (Jan. 1 – Dec. 31) to provide the community with a detailed look at what they are doing for Wood County.
“When I spoke to the Wood County Commission about the possibility of being included in their budget in November of 2023, Commissioner Couch asked me how many of the children we are seeing are coming strictly from the county’s jurisdiction,” states Greg Collins, executive director of North Star. “I had never been asked that question at that time, so I added a section to our statistics for 2024 where we could determine the jurisdiction of the child served,” says Collins. Collins says that this particular information is of no use to North Star itself, but he can see where it would be helpful to local governments when deciding on the possible budget inclusion of North Star. “It’s a fair question when it comes to using taxpayer funds. We serve whatever child comes through our door regardless of where they live. We took care of 24 children last year that did not live in our five-county service area. That’s why we are here. It’s unfortunate that funding has to be an issue for us because of the necessity of our mission, but it is a reality,” states Collins.
The report detailed that Parkersburg and Wood County(outside any city limit) was over 91% of the children seen in Wood County, coming as no surprise to North Star. The City of Vienna, with 8% of the children seen in Wood County, was the first local government to include NSCAC in their yearly budgets. Last February after a presentation was given to Vienna City Council at their request, they almost immediately provided a $10,000 donation. Then in July, Vienna included North Star in their yearly budget for $15,000. Collins says that when living only on grants, it’s always year to year uncertainty. He says that the City of Vienna has provided them with sustainable funding that has long been sought. “Our largest grant providing 41% of our funding has been collapsing for four years. That federal VOCA grant is slated to be cut by 74% in October of this year. It will be a loss for us of $168,182.00. Having a portion of our budget funded by local government would lessen the hardship of any sudden loss of state or federal funding,” states Collins. Collins furthered by stating that as a result of the November 2023 presentation to the Wood County Commission, they made a donation of $10,000 to North Star in July of 2024.
Vienna Police Chief Carl Powell states, “The Vienna Police Department would like to express our gratitude to Vienna City Council for their generosity. Vienna City Council voted to support North Star Child Advocacy Center as part of the yearly budget. North Star is a vital resource for all Wood County Law Enforcement agencies when investigating cases involving children. These forensic interviewers take care of hundreds of cases a year involving physically and sexually abused children. The forensic interviewers receive specialized training to interview juveniles that have lived through great trauma. North Star is mainly funded through grants and private donations from businesses/citizens in the community. Planning for the future is difficult without knowing your guaranteed budget for the upcoming years. Therefore, I commend the Vienna City Council for stepping up to help with the fight against crimes affecting our children in Wood County. I encourage any company or individual that is looking to make a difference in Wood County, contact Greg Collins at the North Star Child Advocacy Center.”
Collins says that the federal government is actively looking for another way to fund VOCA or come up with another source of funding all together. The State of West Virginia has provided rescue funding for the state’s 21 child advocacy centers (CACs) for the last three years and is considering it once again at this year’s Legislative Session. The rescue funding has provided each center with the exact amount they lost in VOCA funds each year. Even though no growth has been able to occur over the past three years, Collins says West Virginia has prevented child advocacy center doors from closing and gave CACs the ability to continue seeing the abused children who need help. “Many states didn’t come to the aid of their CACs and it was the children who paid the price. West Virginia was lauded by allthe out-of-state centers I visited as being advanced and proactive with this crisis. The obvious issue that not many would think about with the VOCA funding collapse is the unbearable strain on law enforcement, Child Protective Services and prosecutors if CACs no longer existed. Again, the children lose,” states Collins.
Collins said that North Star heroes in legislature like Delegates Scot Heckert, Bob Fehrenbacher and Dave Foggin are advocating for North Star every day in legislature. Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce has also advocated openly for North Star when in Charleston. Collins says that North Star must have champions in Charleston when the conversations happen regarding CAC funding. “The short of it is, if you don’t have people in your corner when it all comes down to a vote, you can plan and wish all you want, it won’t make a bit of difference. We are truly blessed to have these key figures in our corner,” concludes Collins.
“I’m always looking for ways to support this center,” says Delegate Scot Heckert. “Whether it’s in Charleston advocating for laws to be passed that will make their job easier and more efficient, or if it’s finding financial support for them so they can have money in their budget to do the important work they are doing. As a father and a grandfather, it’s a pretty easy decision to go to battle for these folks and the kids they are serving,” concludes Heckert.
North Star is a non-profit that until the City of Vienna’s budget inclusion, had no long-term, defined, sustainable funding source. The money the center uses to operate mainly comes from federal and state grants, foundations and donations from the public. North Star is an important piece of the child investigation puzzle, as they are not only assisting law enforcement, CPS and prosecutors, they are focused on the child and non-offending family members and getting them the help and tools they need to heal and be a productive member of our community, for as long as they need it.
People can contact North Star at 304-917-4437 or via email nscac@northstarcac.org to learn more about how you can help. You can also visit them at northstarcac.org or follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. People wanting to contribute an afterlife donation can contact the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation (PACF) to leave an endowment or a legacy gift.
