Architecture deceives.
Dawson Place Child Advocacy Center, housed in a 1970s-era, accountants-must-work-there building in downtown Everett, doesn’t telegraph the life inside. Behind nondescript walls, children begin to heal. Slowly. Probably no place serves as many physically and sexually abused children in the Pacific Northwest.
Twenty-five new cases, 25 pairs of young feet, walk through its doors each week. A small school bus of abuse victims; in a year’s time, the population of a high school. Each horror story horrific in its own way. Dawson Place’s primary mission is to provide services for abused children, although it manages much more. It knits together programs designed to end the cycle of child abuse, to find justice for victims, and to make whole the promise of safer, healthier communities in Snohomish County.
The center’s history is instructive. In 1983, newly elected Snohomish County Prosecutor Seth Dawson created a first-of-its kind Special Assault Unit. Cases of child sexual abuse quickly threw light on the diversity of agencies involved but apart — from Child Protective Services, to mental health counseling, to the Sheriff’s Department. The vision was for a single institutional home, without systemic barriers and under one roof.
As recently as a decade ago, a child victim might be interviewed by 15 different professionals at separate venues around the county. At Dawson Place, the number narrows to three: A nurse or doctor, a child-interview specialist, and a counselor. A one-stop station with five agencies working in concert.
Dawson was joined by other advocates who put children first. They included former Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Janice Ellis and her successor, Mark Roe — both present at the creation, both passionate about improving services for children. There was Bill France; there were The Herald’s former publisher, Larry Hanson, Bob Drewel and dozens more. Today, Everett Police Chief Kathy Atwood, Gary Weikel and other community totems are shepherding the nonprofit toward its current goal of raising a couple million dollars to pay off the mortgage and tamp down operating costs.
Since it opened in 2006, Dawson Place has helped more than 6,000 abused children. Today, it’s a template for child services and cost savings, what the National Children’s Alliance called, “one of the best child advocacy centers in the nation.”
The physical and sexual abuse of children is a tough, uncomfortable subject. All the more reason for sunlight. The care and treatment of children is an expression of a community’s soul. Dawson Place leads the way.
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