Guests were welcomed into the library with informational bags placed on each chair, offering resources about the center’s services and upcoming events.
Refreshments included fresh fruits and vegetables, buffalo dip with toasted bread, and spinach dip. The most powerful visual elements of the morning were two large canvases displayed in the library, each covered in painted little handprints. These handprints represent the children served by the Prescott office since it opened in 2021, each one a reminder of lives impacted and supported through the center’s work.
The Percy and Donna Malone Child Safety Center provides trauma therapy, forensic interviewing, victim advocacy, and prevention education for children and families who have experienced physical or sexual abuse or neglect. The center operates as a Child Advocacy Center (CAC), offering a child-friendly, multidisciplinary approach that brings together law enforcement, prosecutors, the Department of Human Services, and other partners to reduce trauma and ensure children only have to tell their story once.
Executive Director Stephanie Harbal emphasized that CACs are designed to remove fear and intimidation from the process. Rather than children being interviewed in police stations, emergency rooms, or multiple offices, they are welcomed into a space created specifically for them. Trained forensic interviewers conduct neutral, fact-finding interviews that can be used throughout the investigative and court process, while the child remains supported and protected.
Victim advocates stay with families from the moment they walk through the door, providing guidance, court preparation, and access to essential resources. Families often arrive after being abruptly uprooted from unsafe situations, sometimes with little more than the clothes they are wearing. To help meet immediate needs, the center provides care bags filled with hygiene items, blankets, and comfort activities for children, along with assistance such as clothing, housing resources, hotel placements, and gas cards to ensure families can attend therapy and appointments.
Prevention Education Advocate Caroline Bennington spoke about the importance of education as a first line of defense. She regularly visits school districts to teach age appropriate body safety and awareness lessons, helping children understand how to protect themselves, identify trusted adults, and know that abuse is never their fault. She also provides mandated reporter training and human trafficking awareness training for educators, childcare providers, and community groups, always free of charge as part of the center’s nonprofit mission.
According to staff, since these prevention programs began, numerous individuals have come forward to report abuse because they felt empowered enough and safe enough to do so. “That alone shows how critical prevention education is,” one speaker shared, noting that a child speaking up often draws on lessons learned in school.
Development Coordinator, Tiffany Barnes highlighted the center’s ongoing need for community support. While the organization continues to receive grant funding, the loss of a major grant earlier this year has increased the need for donations and partnerships. Contributions can be monetary or in-kind, such as hygiene products for care bags.
Barnes also shared details about upcoming outreach and fundraising events, including the popular Duck Derby fundraiser and other community awareness activities planned throughout April, which is Child Abuse Awareness Month.
As the morning concluded, attendees were invited to tour the Prescott office located in the former bank building next to NAPA and learn more about how the space is designed to serve children with dignity and care. The Community Coffee served not only as a networking event, but as a meaningful reminder that protecting children is a shared responsibility.
Through education, advocacy, and compassionate services, the Percy and Donna Malone Child Safety Center continues to play a vital role in Prescott and across the region ensuring that every child has a safe place to be heard, supported, and believed.
