Members of the West Virginia First Foundation toured the North Star Child Advocacy Center in Parkersburg Thursday seeing the medical exam rooms and the interview rooms where staff work with law enforcement, prosecutors and others on child abuse cases. The Foundation awarded North Star a $720,000 Initial Opportunity Grant for Child Advocacy, the largest of the grants awarded in the state as part of this initial group of grants awarded by the group. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — The West Virginia First Foundation was in Parkersburg Thursday to see the potential impacts of a grant they awarded to the North Star Child Advocacy Center.

The Foundation held its quarterly meeting in Parkersburg at the Wood County Resiliency Center on Thursday.

That afternoon they went out to the advocacy center as part of their Hold the Line Tour to recognize and support the organizations that have long been on the frontlines of West Virginia’s fight against the opioid crisis.

The Foundation awarded North Star a $720,000 Initial Opportunity Grant for Child Advocacy, the largest of the grants awarded in the state as part of this first group of grant funding awarded by the group, said Foundation Executive Director Jonathan Board.

“North Star got the largest award,” he said, adding that many of the people who helped make the decisions about awarding grants were in agreement that North Star “was the one.”

Members of the West Virginia First Foundation and the staff of North Star Child Advocacy Center in Parkersburg took a tour of the space the center wants to acquire with a $720,000 grant the Foundation recently awarded North Star to expand its offices and service space. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

North Star partners with Child Protective Services, law enforcement and prosecutors to provide forensic interviews and medical exams for child abuse investigations and advocate for children in Wood, Wirt, Pleasants, Ritchie and Calhoun counties.

North Star Executive Director Greg Collins said he has been working on expanding their facilities for three years. He is working on adding a full-time therapist and two teachers as well as adding space for police investigators who work on child crimes.

Currently, North Star has around 3,000-square-feet where they conduct interviews, do medical exams, have administrative office space and more. They are taking over the former space in their building that used to house a law firm for an additional 4,500 square-feet of space.

Collins has visited other centers like his in other states to see what is being done and what he could do locally..

“We want to have everyone in the same building, just like the big centers,” he said. “I believe West Virginia should never lack in anything.

North Star Child Advocacy Center Executive Director Greg Collins looks on as West Virginia First Foundation Executive Director Jonathan Board talks about the $720,000 grant the Foundation awarded North Star to be able to expand its facilities and office space. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“We lead the state with doing over 600 interviews (with children) a year.”

The interviews they do involve a lot of sexual abuse cases, physical abuse and more, Collins said. They have to do sexual assault kits on children.

The crimes these children, ranging in age from a few months old to 18 years old, experience include biological parents having sex with their children; dads having sex with their sons; mothers prostituting out their own children so they can move in with a pedophile in to pay their bills and support their drug habits; moms taking kids to motel rooms so they can turn tricks so they can buy drugs and other crimes, Collins said. They have seen instances of kids being hung from rafters and beaten, instances where parents had their kids standing in a corner over a two-by-four with nails in it and more, he added.

“Over 50% of it is done by the biological parents,” Collins said, countering the long-held belief that it is a boyfriend or someone brought in from the outside.

All of those crimes he described have happened locally and it takes a toll on their staff as they have worked to help these kids, Collins said of having to manage his people’s own mental health as they deal with the secondary trauma of what they have to deal with.

West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey spoke to the West Virginia First Foundation board Thursday as they held their quarterly meeting in Parkersburg at the Wood County Resiliency Center. Board Chairman Matt Harvey and Foundation Executive Director Jonathan Board listened as McCuskey spoke. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“A lot of these kids never see a doctor because parents who abuse kids don’t want to be found out,” he said. “We never know what we will get until they come through the door.”

Their medical exams look at injuries, broken bones, malnutrition, hygiene issues and more.

The Foundation board members walked around and saw the medical exam room, the interview rooms and the space they have and went to the space above North Star’s offices to see what they have planned with the grant money.

“I think that speaks volumes to the work North Star is doing,” Board said of the $720,000 grant award. “After seeing the really good work they are doing in such a small space, it is very evident they will elevate their services with a little bit of elbow room.

“These people work 24/7 and the value they bring to this community and the clients they have is unspeakably important. It will be wonderful for them to be able to expand their services and be given a little bit of extra room to be able to serve this community better.”

During the board’s meeting earlier in the day at the Wood County Resiliency Center, West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey told the board that their work is important as the state continually deals with the fallout of the opioid epidemic and how the Foundation is taking the settlement money from drug manufacturers and dealing with it.

West Virginia is starting to have companies look at it for economic development, he said of the Timet site in Jackson County and other development around the state.

“How do we make sure that far less people fall victim to opioid and drug abuse in the future and how do we get people who have been sick back into the workforce,” McCuskey said. “We obviously have water/sewer issues, internet issues, child welfare and more, but this is the issue (he said of the opioid crisis).

“What we are doing here is a generational opportunity.”

Traditionally, when large sums of money have been provided to the state there are politicians and others who try to enrich themselves and many of the opportunities the money could be used for go to waste. He wanted to see lasting impacts that will build buildings, infrastructure and more that will still be in use 10-30 years in the future.

“Find the real problems that you have and that money can solve and build things that people will be able to use,” he said.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com