Marion County Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc., Kimberley’s Cottage is part of a national trend towards child-oriented and victim-sensitive delivery of services to child victims of serious physical abuse and sexual abuse. We bring together professional and agencies to create a child-focused approach to child abuse investigation and treatment. The goal is to ensure that children are not re-victimized by the very system designed to protect them. Partner agencies include the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Ocala Police Department, State Attorney, University of Florida Child Protection Team, local mental health and other child services providers. Kimberley’s Cottage provides counseling services to child victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, and domestic violence at no cost to the child or the non-offending caregiver. Kimberley’s Cottage also has two forensic (child friendly) interview rooms where the child’s disclosure can be videotaped for use in the courts. We greatly increase the successful prosecution of offenders by this multi-disciplinary partnership approach. Children that are brought to Kimberly’s Cottage range in age from 0 to 18, although successful forensic interviewing of the child depend on at least a verbal age of 2 or 3. In the calendar year, 2003 there were over 4500 calls to the abuse hotline from Marion County affecting more than 9000 children. Students would be active in working with the abused children and their families involving counseling and referral for services from housing to clothing or more intensive counseling. We provide the first ten sessions free of charge and refer families to local service providers for long-term counseling.

BSW, MSW 1st year, MSW 2nd year SPA or clinical, part-time/full-time; no stipend available; no reimbursement for travel; most services performed onsite; liability insurance is provided by the agency; video/audio taping is permitted; flexible hours are available.