- April 25, 2024
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The Flagler County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously at its regular Monday-morning meeting to reallocate funds for the Children’s Advocacy Center and Work Oriented Rehab Center to the Family Life Center and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office so that sexual-assault victims will no longer have to leave the county for a forensic medical exam.
“It’s just basically realigning those services,” County Administrator Craig Coffey said.
Commissioner Charlie Ericksen said the “the system has failed badly,” in reference to a case last summer where a victim of a rape in Flagler Beach waited hours to be seen by a nurse.
Of the $50,000 the county used to provide the Children’s Advocacy Center, $15,500 will now be reallocated to the Family Life Center and $6,960 to the Sheriff’s Office
Children’s Advocacy Center CEO Reggie Williams told the commission it was making a decision based on “some misinformation circling around this.”
“What we experienced last year at the Children’s Advocacy Center was we had two or three situations where we had to call for an ambulance to transport victims from that center to the hospital, because we could not handle it in house,” he said. “The intent was to relocate those services to the hospital."
Family Life Center Executive Director Trish Giaccone said the Family Life Center is prepared to take over.
“We’re calling this program the Sexual Assault Victims Empowerment program, and we are up and running,” she said. “We’re really trying to bring it back locally and make that process smoother for victims.”
If there’s no medical need for a victim to be seen, aside from an exam, a nurse at the center will serve them, she said. Otherwise, they’ll be brought to the hospital “in a discreet manner” for services there. The Family Life Center will serve victims over 12, she said.
“Our program at this point is going to serve victims 12 and older, and we anticipate that the Children’s Advocacy Center are going to continue handling children that 11 and younger,” she said.
