Nonprofit Spotlight: Summit County Children’s Justice Center

This month, I wanted to take the opportunity to shed light on the important work carried out by the Summit County Children’s Justice Center. One of 22 operating in the state of Utah, the Summit County Children’s Justice Center is a public-private partnership that depends upon the support of the community to carry out its mission of helping child abuse victims. We chatted with Director Melissa McKain, who has been leading the CJC since 2014, about the services provided and how you can help.

How the CJC Achieves its Mission

When a family first reaches out to the CJC, the staff conducts an interview to establish what has happened to the child. Sexual abuse exams can also be carried out onsite. Then the team of Park City police detectives, case workers, victim advocates, and therapists get to work to help the children and family move forward.

Stats

In its first five years of operation, the CJC has helped over 800 victims and families. In 2016, the CJC served 248 victims and family members.

CJC in Action

When children come in for help, they are often traumatized by what they’ve been through. Director Melissa McKain shares a recent example of a six-year-old child who the CJC worked with:

“The young boy who came in for the exam was nervous when he first arrived, but soon relaxed and began to play in our cozy waiting room … in less than 1.5 hours, this young boy felt relieved, supported, cared for, his fears were resolved, his stress decreased, and we were able to gather important information needed … I can tell you when the child left he had a smile on his face.”

A drawing by the six-year-old boy described above

Testimonial from a Park City Resident

“The team of people at the Summit County CJC gave us the support we needed to face our situation. With their help, we have been able to heal from the abuse my child endured. We are incredibly grateful our community has a resource like the Summit County Children’s Justice Center.”

How to Find the CJC

The CJC operates out of the Kimball Junction library (1885 West Ute Boulevard) and can be reached at 435.615.3910.

How to Help

The Summit County Children’s Justice Center depends upon community support. To help, donate snacks and bottled water, gift cards in $15-20 increments, blankets, and stuffed animals. You can also sponsor a staff meal for case meetings. To support the new Community for Children’s Justice, attend Pig in the Park, their inaugural fundraiser event this Sunday, June 25 from 4-8pm in the City Park Pavilion.

The CJC team on a staff bowling outing

After every sale, I make a donation to a deserving nonprofit selected by my client. Nonprofit Spotlight highlights the recipients of these donations. My tradition of giving fits into the larger charitable mission of the nonprofit Sotheby’s Cares, wherein Summit Sotheby’s International Realty’s sales associates routinely give to worthy causes. In 2016, we donated $70,000 to many organizations, including The Park City Foundation, the Mountain Trails Foundation, KPCW, Summit Land Conservancy, and PC Reads.