New Bay Mills Child Advocacy Center opening in Brimley this summer

Brendan Wiesner, Sault Ste. Marie News
·3 min read
An interior room at the new Bay Mills Child Advocacy Center.
An interior room at the new Bay Mills Child Advocacy Center.

EASTERN UPPER PENINSULA — The Bay Mills Indian Community is introducing a new child advocacy center this summer, which will be the first of its kind in the EUP.

Tribal officials said child advocacy centers are an important part of the legal process, especially when it comes to protecting children who are the victims or witnesses of crimes. When a child needs to testify or give a statement to the police, these centers give children medical and psychological checkups, and conduct interviews with trained professionals to make it as easy as possible.

"Our goal is to increase justice because a lot of offenders can escape justice for various different reasons," said Janet Farrish-Gravelle, director of Bay Mills Social Services. "We increase the quality of forensic interviewing with kids. We conduct interviews one time in a safe space with a trained professional. This not only makes the interview more credible but helps reduce trauma for the kids."

Currently, the closest child advocacy center to Bay Mills is a three-hour drive west, and an even longer drive for communities closer to the eastern end of the peninsula. Children will sometimes have to be transported as far as Iron Mountain.

"The kids have already gone through such a traumatic process and to drive them somewhere hours and hours away for the required exams and interviews can be even more difficult," said Farrish-Gravelle. "The Delta County center has been overwhelmed covering nine counties at once, so they're very happy we're here now."

This new center will support child victims of abuse specifically in Chippewa, Luce and Mackinac counties by working closely with police and child protective services in the region.

The staff includes trained forensic interviewers, a pediatric nurse and more, all trained to assist in abuse cases and capable of testifying in court. The staff will also include a golden retriever named Sunny.

Sunny is a trained therapy dog that helps children feel more comfortable when giving police statements or forensic interviews.
Sunny is a trained therapy dog that helps children feel more comfortable when giving police statements or forensic interviews.

“With the aid of a hard-working therapy dog named Sunny, who is specially trained to provide comfort and companionship during interviews, our center has made it their mission that every child feels comfortable and empowered throughout the process. In our journey to establish this center, we anticipated a waiting period of 2-3 years to find the perfect therapy dog, however, we were blessed to be matched with Sunny right away,” said Farrish-Gravelle.

Sunny was trained through Canines For Comfort in Escanaba and D&D Dynamics in Gladstone.

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This interview room in the Bay Mills Child Advocacy Center is designed to help child crime victims feel more comfortable giving police statements.
This interview room in the Bay Mills Child Advocacy Center is designed to help child crime victims feel more comfortable giving police statements.

While the center is currently being used by the Delta County office while staff complete their training, the grand opening will be held sometime in July. The center will take the Ojibwe name of Mashkawizii, which pays homage to the inner strength and resilience of survivors.

The center is funded by a $300,000 federal grant that will keep it running for the first three years. The child advocacy center is currently seeking volunteers to join their fundraising committee and corporate sponsors to keep the center funded after the grant runs out.

— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: New Bay Mills Child Advocacy Center opening in Brimley this summer