Kids Place – Keeps on Changing Lives!

Two weeks ago I was privileged to attend the annual Kids Place Gala, where we celebrate accomplishments and seek support for the child advocacy center serving Lawrence, Giles, Wayne, and Maury Counties.
I was on the Kids Place board from 2013 to 2024, including ten years as chair. I am incredibly grateful for that experience and proud of how Kids Place has evolved. Thanks to the support of partners in each community, it is now better able to serve the growing number of children whose wellbeing depends on it.
Child advocacy centers were relatively new when Kids Place was established in 1998. It was established by then-District Attorney Mike Bottoms and Barbara Brewer was its first Director. She made an enormous impact by making it okay for this community to talk about child sexual abuse.
Today it’s hard to imagine what victims like my mother endured before these agencies existed. Her life proves faith can lift a person beyond their abuse, but child advocacy centers help make success stories the rule, not the exception.
When I joined the Kids Place board, the Lawrenceburg facility was the only site serving the 22nd Judicial District. It’s a beautiful place provided expense-free by the Christian Home Board, but not convenient for victims, families, and law enforcement in other counties. We started reaching out with a counselor stationed in Giles County one day a week.
Today, Kids Place has a facility in each county. Pulaski’s First United Methodist donated permanent space, and the Presbyterian Church in Waynesboro gifted the agency a house. Kids Place operated 10 years in Columbia out of space donated by Maury Hills Church, but recently moved into its own facility there. Every location is fully staffed, full-time.
Besides being convenient, the space where a CAC operates is very important. The environment must be extremely warm and comforting to provide healing for children and their non-offending family members.
Healing starts by causing as little stress as possible to a child with a very painful story. Victims tell it once to a trained counselor while investigators watch and record it out of the child’s sight. Forensic physical exams are another difficult step, but those are conducted at Kids Place by health professionals trained in that process.
As law enforcement does its work, counseling begins for the victim and continues throughout their childhood, if needed. The Kids Place Family Advocate helps non-offending parents/guardians create stable homes that promote success.
Federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant funds pay for most of Kids Place counseling positions, but those allocations can change from year to year. Those positions are made secure, and other positions are fully supported, through fundraising. Local individuals, businesses, and foundations, including Lawrence County’s Kraus Foundation, provide those much-needed dollars. I want to thank all the communities Kids Place serves for that life-giving help.
I had the opportunity to work with two fantastic Kids Place Directors. Brandi Burdette took that position shortly after I joined the Board, and her heart and passion for the agency’s work are unmatched. Her people skills built on the goodwill established by Barbara Brewer took the agency to a new level.
Charlsi Legandre became the Director three years ago and has played a huge role in the advances it’s made in that time. Zach Moffit, the pastor at Pulaski’s First United Methodist Church, is now Chairman of the Board.
I leave Kids Place in good hands. I appreciate the support of fellow board members and staff throughout the years. I am especially grateful to Lawrence County for embracing its work first, and continuing to provide the support that keeps it strong.