Johnson County Council OKs $43,950 for Health Department renovations to host local Child Advocacy Center

The Johnson County Council approved $43,950 in county funds on Jan. 13 to renovate space in the county's former health department for a Child Advocacy Center (CAC) to be operated by the nonprofit ASSIST.

The appropriation, drawn from COVID-era building repair funds, will remodel suites the health department currently rents so ASSIST can provide forensic interviews and sexual-assault nursing exams locally rather than sending victims to Indianapolis or Avon. "It would keep them local. It would be better for, our police, and responders to be able to do it locally here," Health Department director Betsy Swearingen said during the meeting.

The council's majority supported the measure as a way to both provide locally based, trauma-informed services and reduce the county's ongoing rent expense for the old health building. "I've worked with this group, with the prosecutor's office,…