Bridgehaven to build new facility

Bridgehaven Children’s Advocacy Center is a non-profit child abuse victim organization created to help minimize the trauma to the children in Liberty and Chambers counties. The purpose of Bridgehaven CAC is to coordinate the work of the multidisciplinary partnership and ensure that child victims are not revictimized by the system designed to protect them. They provide a neutral, child-friendly, non-institutionalized environment where each victim can feel safe telling their story, and immediate services can be delivered to both the child and their non-offending family members.
As they grow, the organization will now be at 3100 block of FM 1960 West, Dayton. The child abuse victim nonprofit organization was donated the five acres of land by Ann Rogers, a long-time board member and prominent supporter of this community service.
The project will create a bigger facility for all the staff members and their team members to be under one roof. It will help meet the demands for an increase in population and an increase in child abuse victims in Liberty and Chambers counties.
Bridgehaven is in the early planning process and is working with a design team to draw up the complete plan.
“We have not yet nailed down the square footage yet,” said Paula Torres, Executive Director, who has been a part of this program for 18 years.
It will be a larger facility with administrative staff and services staff to provide direct services to the victims and their families. It is also anticipated to have all team members such as law enforcement, investigators, Child Protective Services investigators, prosecutions, and mental/medical health providers on-site to provide exams for all child victims, including sexual assault exams.
“Every year, the amount of services and programs we provide for the child abuse victims have increased, and we’re kind of at a stand-still due to the lack of space,” stated Torres.
Providing complete and further service is difficult with the small capacity; therefore, there is no ability to grow and expand. They are occupying two offices, one for the administrative staff and the other for services. They are also working on a location in Anahuac.
“It is going to take the support of the entire community to make this happen. When we have plans, designs, and actual estimates on cost, we are going to look towards the community and businesses in our area that support this project so that altogether, we are going to be better able to serve the children in our communities,” said Torres.