Child Abuse Network - Selser Schaefer Architects

Child Abuse Network

Children’s Advocacy Center

Child abuse damages our community’s most vulnerable citizens and often has generational implications. Addressing child abuse requires a comprehensive plan with multiple, coordinated strategies. With this in mind, the Child Abuse Network (CAN) was formed to provide collaborative intervention services to child abuse victims so that they are encouraged to embrace a future driven by hope.

In response to the growing need for the organization’s intervention services, CAN and Selser Schaefer Architects are designing a facility with a vision toward creating healthy outcomes for children who have experienced abuse and/or neglect. This new “Children’s Advocacy Center” will occupy a rehabilitated building next door to the organization’s current location at 28th and Sheridan. Through much collaboration, we’ve designed a renovation plan for the new-to-them building that will support the multidisciplinary team who works there, meeting their complex needs in order to stop the hurt and start the healing for victims of child abuse.

All Hands on Deck

During a child abuse investigation, experts from several agencies must talk with the child. Before the Child Abuse Network existed, children were taken back and forth among child welfare offices, police departments, and medical clinics. At each visit, a child would need to retell his/her story. This process not only duplicated investigative efforts but also forced children to relive their experiences over and over.

The newly renovated 30,000 SF Children’s Advocacy Center will house the child abuse team known as the Tulsa County Multidisciplinary Team (MDT). The building design features seven different porticos, each in a different color, to highlight entries into each department so families and authorities can easily determine where they need to go.

Current signatory members of the MDT include:
– Tulsa County Department of Human Services – Child Welfare
– OU-Tulsa School of Community Medicine – Department of Pediatrics
– US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma
– Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office
– Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office
– City of Tulsa Police Department
– Broken Arrow Police Department
– Owasso Police Department
– Child Abuse Network, Inc. (CAN)

The new Children’s Advocacy Center will ensure that CAN has the physical resources needed to serve the single most vulnerable and valuable community in Tulsa: our children.

Learn more about the Child Abuse Network here.