A new child advocacy center, which supports children who have been victims of abuse, has officially started its operations in Columbia. The center is set to serve children across 11 counties.
The opening of the Child Advocacy Center of Central Missouri comes a few months after the sudden shutdown of Rainbow House, the nonprofit organization that previously housed the center as well as an emergency shelter for children.
Brenda Porter, the CEO of the new center, was the program director for Rainbow House’s Child Advocacy Center, which operated for about 25 years. Porter said that even though Rainbow House has dissolved, the child advocacy center was mandated by law to continue operations.
The new center will receive the state and federal funds previously allocated to its predecessor at Rainbow House. The center provides the same essential services under the new leadership, including forensic interviewing, medical examinations, advocacy and therapy for children who have been sexually or severely physically abused.
“Service-wise, it should not feel any different to children, families or the other professionals that we work with,” Porter said.
Forensic interviews that the Child Advocacy Center of Central Missouri conducts allow children to share their stories in a comfortable space, rather than in a police station or hospital. At the center, children are given stuffed animals and toys to decompress after interviews conclude, and dogs to support them during interviews, which is care and privacy that they may not receive at a different location, Porter said.
“It is just a world of difference,” Porter said. The center has the ability to videotape interviews, and often collaborates with local law enforcement and courts, preventing children from having to testify in court.
Although Rainbow House’s Children’s Emergency Shelter accepted its last child in September 2024, the advocacy center has remained operating in a temporary location until the permanent property was secured. There was never a gap in services, Porter said.
“Our main focus right now is to get our feet under us and to grow the staff,” Porter said. She added that once the new center is able to increase its staff and funding, it will be able to provide services beyond the essentials.The new property currently has one forensic interview room up and running, with two more under construction. Porter conducts all of the interviews, but is in the process of bringing in more professionals to increase the center’s capacity.
Referrals to the center as part of active investigations have not slowed down amid the transition, Porter said.
Dejanae Thomas, a child and family advocate for the center, said she has received referrals for about 50 children in the two weeks that it has been open.
“(Investigations) don’t stop just because we have stopped, just because we’re changing,” she said. Thomas added that the center served around 600 children last year.
The Child Advocacy Center of Central Missouri will eventually become its own nonprofit organization, with the help of Partner for Better, a company that helps grow nonprofits and foundations.
The Boone County Commission approved a contract for the new center in November 2024.
While Porter’s operations were under the direction of Rainbow House’s Board of Directors until December 2024, the center has since developed its own board in the process of becoming an independent nonprofit organization.
While forensic interviews are conducted at the center, medical exams occur off-site in partnership with Holly Monroe, a child abuse pediatrician at MU Health Care.
The Child Advocacy Center of Central Missouri does not provide shelter for children, a service that Rainbow House provided before closing.
As children walk through one of the center’s hallways on their way to being interviewed, they will see a piece of artwork with handprints in every color of the rainbow on the wall. The same artwork once hung in Rainbow House
