Zoey’s Place is moving to 734 N. State St. in Greenfield. Monday, Sept. 3, 2024, Photo by Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
GREENFIELD — Since September of 2020, Zoey’s Place, the county’s child advocacy center, has been located at 953 West North Street where officials say they have served over 500 sexually and physically abused county children.
Due to growth in the county and a need of more space, the advocacy center is moving to a larger location. Officials say they’ll make the move to 734 N. State Avenue later this fall.
The new Zoey’s Place location will be bigger and better-equipped to serve children, executive director Katie Molinder said. The new location will have two bathrooms, an ADA-accessible entrance, a private entrance for staff and families, more rooms, more space for families and kids as well as better equipment to record digital forensic interviews.
“We’re gonna be right there on State Road 9 and we’ll have a much bigger parking area, and the layout of the building is more conducive for what we need to do,” Molinder said. “The interview room just allows for more privacy for the multidisciplinary team, and I can’t tell you how important that is.”
The move means major improvements which will benefit local children. Officials plan to host an open house for the community from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct 16. The public will have the chance to meet the Zoey’s Place team, see what the forensic interview rooms are like, get an understanding of how the recording equipment works and ask questions.
Molinder noted they’ll have more privacy, better security and more accessibility for families — things critical for the work being done.
“Soon, families coming to the new Zoey’s Place will have more room to talk with caseworkers and team members,” Molinder said. “Sometimes when we’re in a room interviewing a child in our current facility, we can hear family members and other people talking in the waiting area and that’s not good for the victim who might fear they can be heard.”
The whole idea behind Zoey’s Place is to give children a safe and secure place to share difficult events that have happened in their lives and officials want the children to feel safe. While the cost for the new home is three times more than what Zoey’s Place is paying in their current location, Molinder said they have the funds to handle the increase for now.
“This is just one of those situations where there is just a such a strong need and we found this space, and while the cost is not ideal, we’re asking for funds through different grants and donations to help us be able to stay there for years to come,” Molinder said. “We have some money saved up for now and we’re hoping for the best in the future because this is for our county kids.”
Molinder noted they’re already done 150% more interviews this year than they did last year.
Zoey’s Place is fully staffed with three full-time employees who are all trained to do forensic interviews. Molinder also noted they now have a man, New Palestine Police officer Jessie Walley, who has also been trained to do forensic interviews with boys. Molinder noted that is key since some boys will feel more comfortable talking to a male than a female official.
Couple all of that with a new home base, and Molinder says this is what the vision for Zoey’s Place has always been — a highly trained and equipped staff working in a safe place to help kids.
“We feel like this move is just going to continue to help us help families move forward from very traumatic situations in a much healthier way,” Molinder said. “We want to make it clear the reason for more interviews and more families coming in is because everyone is trusting the process, and we’re all working together and we’re not just seeing and working with kids who have been sexually and physically abused.”
Zoey’s Place is now also working closely with children who live in homes where domestic violence is taking place helping get the families assistance to stop the violence.
Molinder noted they’re also getting brand new digital interview equipment for the new home through Body Worn Utility thanks to the hard work of Hancock County Sheriff’s Major Robert Campbell.
“I know the equipment is worth tens of thousands of dollars, and it is incredible that they are donating that and are going to install the state-of-the-art digital recording in the new space,” Molinder said. “I want to give credit to Major Campbell because he told them years ago we needed better technology and they’ve been working on that and now we can get it as we move into the new facility.”
For families scheduled to visit Zoey’s Place until the move, they’ll need to continue to use the current location at 953 West North Street until further notice.
