The Lake County Children’s Advocacy Center, which hosts forensic interviews for children who are victims of sexual or physical abuse, will open a medical clinic to better protect children and not delay care.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Lake County Children’s Advocacy Center (LCCAC) announced they had received $1 million in state funding, which was made possible by State Senator Julie Morrison.
The funding will be used toward implementing and integrating a medical forensic clinic in partnership with Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.
Late last month, the new medical clinic was approved under the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act (SASETA) as a Pediatric Health Care Facility.
The new medical unit within the LCCAC will facilitate the immediate medical care of children who are brought to the center when there has been an allegation of abuse.
The creation of the clinic has been a long-term goal of the office with the medical wing being built in 2020.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said that while the clinic was physically built in 2020, the medical provider partnership was not finalized until recently, which then led to facility receiving its state certification and state funding.
There are currently 41 child advocacy centers throughout Illinois.
The Lake County Children’s Advocacy Center houses a multidisciplinary team made up of prosecutors, law enforcement officers, DCFS staff, mental health therapists, victim advocates, forensic interviewers and medical personnel who collaborate to interview and treat the minor victim.
If a criminal case is filed by prosecutors, LCCAC staff continue their work by assisting the child and their family through the court process.
The new clinic will introduce Rosalind Franklin University medical students and personnel to the multidisciplinary team process and allow children to be medically examined at the children’s advocacy center by healthcare professionals.
Officials say the investigation and treatment process will no longer be delayed by families or friends taking children to outside hospitals.
“This is a great day for the children of Lake County. This new and innovative partnership will better protect children and serve families. For the last two years, we have been working closely with Rosalind Franklin University to build this critical bridge between our fantastic MDT model and a critical need: onsite medical examination of children,” Rinehart said.
“Now, our prosecutors and police will secure evidence faster, and the child will be saved the trauma of traveling to far off hospitals or waiting for the correct personnel at nearby hospitals. They will be examined and treated right at the LCCAC,” Rinehart said.
Morrison said the initiative is not just about education and training but it is “about building a safer, more supportive community.”
“It’s about standing up for survivors and giving them the care and respect they deserve. It’s about ensuring that our healthcare professionals are well-prepared to handle the sensitive and complex nature of sexual assault cases,” the state senator said.
“Our work in the RFU Children’s Advocacy Center Medical Clinic and our interprofessional approach with the LCCAC team, will provide a better alternative to survivors of sexual abuse and trauma who require the necessary and important medical examination that unfortunately, so many of them don’t receive,” Rosalind Franklin University Vice President of Clinical Care Services Jeff Espina said.
In 2023, the LCCAC conducted approximately 790 forensic interviews. 590 of the interviews were sexual assaults but only 120 of them received sexual assault exams.
Officials say medical evaluations serve as a key component in the success of criminal cases.
“The number one goal is to ensure that all children receive consistent evidence based forensic interviews and receive services that help children heal from the abuse they have suffered,” the state’s attorney’s office said.
Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor said the medical clinic is one of the first of its kind in Illinois and will hopefully be a model for the rest of the state.