Child Advocacy Center gets new building and name

Sep. 24—The Pittsburg County Child Advocacy Center is moving into a new building and it's getting a new name.

For the first time, the Pittsburg County Child Abuse Response Effort and Child Advocacy Center will have a home of its own. It will now be known as the Ryan's House Child Advocacy Center, said the organization's Executive Director Cindy Ledford.

"We are moving in," Ledford said Friday, adding that a couple of volunteers from King's House were assisting with the move.

"Monday morning we will be conducting business in the new building," she said.

The dream by Child Advocacy Center staffers for the facility to someday have its own home began its way to fulfillment on October 2021, with a $200,000 donation from the McGowan Family Foundation, led by Nancy and Mike McGowan. The McGowans made the donation specifically so the Child Advocacy Center could have a home of its own, instead of having to rent smaller buildings in McAlester.

With the donation, the organization purchased the former Vera McCoy House on Short Stonewall Avenue, near the Pittsburg County Justice Center. The refurbished building has 17 rooms.

"We'll have a new updated forensic interview room, with new recording equipment," Ledford said.

It includes an observation area where law enforcement and Child Protective Services can conduct interviews as well as a medical examination room. It also includes a kitchen and several bathrooms, along with offices for law enforcement and Child Protective Services when they are on-site.

An additional $80,000 donation from Robert and Grace Wallace is being used to furnish the new building.

"The McGowans also donated another $25,000 for us to buy recording equipment for forensic interviews," Ledford said. King's House has stepped forward to handle the landscaping, she added.

"It means a lot for us to have a comfortable, safe building," Ledford said. "We've needed it for a long time.

"We are very grateful to the McGowans and Wallaces, so we can do more for the kids we serve," she said.

The new facility is named in honor of Ryan Luke, the 2-year-old McAlester boy who died in 1995 from blunt force trauma to the head. Numerous changes have occurred in the child care system since the child's death led to passage of the Ryan Luke Bill in the state legislature.

The Ryan Luke Bill, filed as House Bill 2053, mandated that a multi-disciplinary team be organized in each district attorney's district to include representatives from the district attorney's office, law enforcement and child welfare, along with mental health and medical representatives.

That resulted in the formation of the PC-CARE multi-disciplinary team. It was formed in 1996, followed two years later by establishment of the Pittsburg County Child Advocacy Center in 1998.

Since then, the Child Advocacy Center has sometimes struggled with funding, especially in the wake of state budget cuts in recent years.

Ledford was named to PC-CARE's executive director position in June following the resignation of Jessica Gilliam and began officially filling the role on July 8. She works with a multidisciplinary team which includes the McAlester Police Department and Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office; the District 18 District Attorney's office, child welfare and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Mental health and medical representatives are also included.

The PC-CARE Child Advocacy Center was created to provide a central location where professionals can conduct medical examinations and forensic interviews on allegedly abused or neglected children. That way medical and law enforcement procedures can occur at the same location. It's also meant to provide a safe and child-friendly place for children when an investigation is underway.

Included in the new building is a care closet, with items such as socks, underwear and toiletries available for children who are at the facility, with the items being gathered by the Southeast Oklahoma Association of Realtors. A local Boy Scouts troop is gathering books, with the idea the each child that comes to the facility will be given a book to take home.

Ledford and Jesseka Whitman are the only full-time staff members. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma provides assistance at times and Ledford said she's writing a grant proposal in hopes of getting funding to hire another full-time staffer.

Regarding the name change, Ledford said the organization's incorporated name remains the Pittsburg County Child Abuse Response Effort. Its trade name, and the name it will be doing business under, is the Ryan's House Child Advocacy Center, she said.

Nancy McGowan, of the McGowan Foundation, said last October that she became aware of PC-CARE after reading an article in the News-Capital regarding a program set up by Ledford, who at the time served as the Pittsburg County court clerk. Through the program, jurors serving in Pittsburg County court cases had the option of donating their jury fees to help with child abuse prevention efforts.

"I had never heard of PC-CARE until I picked up the paper and read about it," Nancy McGowan said at the time. She drove over to the PC-CARE Child Advocacy Center on Delaware Avenue to meet with then-PC-CARE Executive Director Gilliam.

The McGowans initially helped by purchasing two cameras that were needed, but wanted to do more. The more the McGowans learned about the services provided by PC-CARE, the more they wanted to help.

"They take care of the children who fall through the cracks," Nancy McGowan said. "I don't know how they do it."

Their son, Matt McGowan, who is chairman of the board at The Bank N.A., and his wife, Angie McGowan, were familiar with the services provided by PC-CARE through their involvement with a foster care program. Finally, it all came together with the $200,000 McGowan Family Foundation donation, with Mike and Nancy McGowan's daughter, Michelle McGown Tompkins, also present for the check presentation.

"It's a Cinderella story," Angie McGown said during the check presentation.

"It's a good deal," Matt McGowan sad.

The Vera McCoy Hospitality House had originally been constructed to offer low-cost lodging for families visiting inmates at the nearby Oklahoma State Penitentiary, but it had gone out of use in recent years.

Both Nancy and Mike McGowan said during the check presentation ceremony they were glad to assist after reading the article about jurors donating to PC-CARE.

"How it evolved was really amazing,"Nancy McGowan said. "We're just so happy to help."

Ledford said this week the name change to Ryan's House has been officially approved by the organization's board of directors.

"We have been talking about if for a while," Ledford said. "We wanted to do something to keep Ryan Luke's memory alive. We thought it appropriate that this be Ryan's House."

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.