Will County Counseling Center For Abused Children Opens In Steger

STEGER, IL —Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow tells a story that makes people wince. A 17-year-old girl once thanked him for prosecuting a man who sexually abused her when she was eight. But when she approached him, she had been hospitalized because her own boyfriend had raped her and nearly beaten her to death.

The story, he said, makes him shake his head."Here she started dating this horrible monster who almost killed her," he said. "I tell that story because it's reflective of what we're trying to do — this was a cute, smart young girl who obviously had scars."

If he had been able to couple the right mental-health resources with law enforcement for her, maybe things would have been different for her as she grew up, Glasgow said. But the therapeutic resources that she and children like her needed were not readily available then.

That's why, he said, he founded the Will County Children's Advocacy Center in Joliet in 1995. And that is why he is officially opening a satellite office in Steger Saturday: The need for services for children who survived sexual assault has not gone away.

According to Glasgow, the center handled more than 600 cases of child sexual abuse last year.

"That's the highest number we've had in our history," he said. And it's growing.

The cases come from across Will County, an 849-square-mile expanse, so traveling from the eastern section of the county — say Beecher or Monee — to Joliet for counseling is difficult, if not impossible, he and Will County Board Member Laurie Summers, who also advocated for the Steger location, said. They wanted to ease that burden for the families of the victims, they said.

Summers called Steger Mayor Kenneth A. Peterson, who immediately agreed to help find the center extra space on the Will County side of the village. He offered up some room at the Louis Sherman Community Center on Hopkins Street.

"He told me: Whatever you need," Summers, of Crete, said.

The Children’s Advocacy Center is a nonprofit unit of the State’s Attorney’s Office that works with children who have been abused or who have witnessed violent crime. It employs highly trained officers who investigate the sensitive cases and provides specialized trauma therapy for the children. The services they offer are free.

Therapists will visit the Steger location twice a week, from 1:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays to accommodate working parents' schedules.

At the open house Friday morning, residents can learn more about the services offered at Children’s Advocacy Center. They'll also be able to meet the therapy dogs that are sometimes used in counseling sessions.

Glasgow said that if demand rises, the center will operate more often. He also said that one additional office is not enough, and that he is in early talks to open a third center in the county. In the meantime, he said, he will find transportation for any child who needs therapy but can't make it to Steger or Joliet. His office will provide rides, he said, and is looking into grants for ride share options.

The Children’s Advocacy Center open house will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Sat., June 15, at the Louis Sherman Community Center, 3501 Hopkins St., Steger.