State grant will aid kids
who have been sexually abused

Pennsylvania House Speaker Dennis O’Brien on June 21 presented a state grant for $300,000 to the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance to benefit children who have been sexually abused. The Alliance will use the grant to move to a new location in the Tower Building at Episcopal Hospital, which is also home to the Philadelphia Police Department’s special victims unit.
O’Brien joined Chris Kirchner, executive director of the Alliance, and District Attorney Lynne Abraham at Abraham’s office to make the announcement.
Work on the new Alliance facility is expected to begin this fall.
"Providing services under one roof allows us to help five times as many children as we now serve. And we will be able to offer them a wide range of expanded services, such as private meeting rooms," Abraham said. "This will be a tremendous benefit to our youngest and most innocent victims of crime."
The new home of the Children’s Alliance will have child-friendly interview rooms with observation space, waiting areas, private meeting rooms and a medical examination room. The $300,000 grant will be applied to equipment and furnishings, computer and telephone systems, along with videotape and medical equipment.
"These funds will enable us to create a warm and welcoming facility for victims of child abuse, a place where public and private agencies can coordinate their investigations and children and families will receive comprehensive services and support," Kirchner said. "We are extremely grateful to District Attorney Lynne Abraham and Speaker O’Brien for their outstanding efforts on behalf of abused children in Philadelphia."
O’Brien added, "As a longtime partner with the Philadelphia Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office and the Children’s Alliance, I have seen how valuable a facility like this is in avoiding further trauma for the youngest victims of sexual abuse. This state funding I was able to obtain represents the final piece of the puzzle in creating a better facility, and I am very pleased we could make it happen."
The Alliance acts to create a coordinated, multi-agency, interdisciplinary response to child sexual abuse that promotes healing and justice for victims in Philadelphia.
The Alliance also conducts forensic interviews of victims to aid the police investigators, the District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Human Services.
The Alliance outgrew its previous facility at 40th and Chestnut streets.
The new facility is larger and is more convenient for child victims and their families largely due to its proximity to the hospital. ••