Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child Protection Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Children’s Justice Center requests small training and therapy budget increases as caseloads rise
Summary
The Davis County Children’s Justice Center told the Budget Committee it needs modest 2026 increases — including $671 for out-of-state training and $2,900 in VOCA funds for therapy — to support staff training, cover therapy costs and respond to a growing caseload.
At a meeting of the Davis County Budget Committee, Julie, director of the Davis County Children’s Justice Center, told the committee the center is requesting modest increases to its 2026 budget to cover staff training and therapy for child victims as caseloads climb.
Julie said the center handled 610 children in 2024 and has already served 392 through August 2025. "We're a safe place for kids and their families to come to talk about hard things that have happened," she said.
The increases are largely to pay for required and advanced training and to adjust a VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) grant line for therapy. Julie said the budget line for training needs to grow by $671 to allow staff to attend out-of-state leadership and national child-abuse conferences required for accreditation through the National Children’s Alliance and for federal and state grant compliance. She said VOCA traditionally covers in-state training but federal grant funds are needed for broader training opportunities.
Julie also told the committee the center was awarded $2,900 in VOCA funds specifically to be used for therapy. That funding, she said, will supplement other sources to pay for counseling when insurance or Office for Victims of Crime funds have been exhausted. The center uses linkage agreements with six county providers to offer discounted therapy to families. Julie said the center is also still spending a donation received in late 2023 from Clearfield High School that is restricted to therapy costs.
Committee members and staff described the center’s work as central to prosecution and public safety. A budget committee member (name not specified) praised the center’s interview work in court, saying, "what Julie and her team are doing on a daily basis is leading to convictions." The member noted that interviewers are sometimes in court and cannot conduct forensic interviews at the center at the same time, stretching staff capacity.
Julie and the committee raised staff welfare and burnout as operational concerns. She said two forensic interviewers, Jill and Carrie, currently perform roughly 90–95% of the center’s interviews. The committee discussed the strain of high interview loads and frequent court appearances and the importance of retaining staff to keep the center’s multidisciplinary work functioning.
Julie described the center’s multidisciplinary team — including law enforcement, child protective services, prosecutors, nurses and mental-health providers — as a model that other counties and state officials visit to observe. She said the VOCA award runs on a two-year cycle and that the center’s current VOCA grant covers July 2025 to June 2027, though future federal funding beyond that will not be known until January or February of the following federal budget cycle.
No formal motions or votes were taken during the discussion. Committee members indicated they would review the requested adjustments; the committee chair noted rollover items and other budget details would be considered in a subsequent session.
The center’s requests on training and therapy funding were presented as adjustments to existing lines rather than large new program starts; committee members offered thanks to Julie and her staff for their work serving child victims and supporting prosecutions.
