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LAKE WACCAMAW (May 28, 2024) – Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope Child Advocacy Center (CAC) will celebrate five years of serving physically and sexually abused children in Columbus, Bladen and Robeson counties with the Kaleidoscope of Hope Soiree at 5:30 p.m., on May 31st, at The Spillway in Whiteville. The fundraiser will include dinner, dancing and a program showing the incredible impact of the CAC in the region with speaker Columbus, Brunswick and Bladen County District Attorney Jon David.

This fundraiser comes at a crucial time for the growing CAC, which is a program of Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina (BGHNC). In 2024, child advocacy centers across North Carolina like Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope Child Advocacy Center could see another funding reduction because of the six-year plunge in funding for the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). VOCA funding to NC agencies such as child advocacy centers, rape crisis centers and other groups that treat crime victims could see funding cut by a third next year from $24.6 million in 2024 to $16.5 million, according to the N.C. Governor’s Crime Commission.

“Services to victims of child abuse–and other victims of crime–are facing devastating cuts due to the continued record low deposits into the Crime Victims Fund. Our Childrens Advocacy Center, Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope in Whiteville, is also facing those cuts,” said Marc Murphy, president and CEO of BGHNC. “To share with you the importance of our work at Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope Child Advocacy Center, in the past month, our staff have worked closely with the local District Attorney’s office to provide forensic interviews for nine elementary school girls who were molested by their school bus driver. Due to our work, the District Attorney’s office was able to quickly arrest, get him away from our community’s most vulnerable children, and charge this alleged perpetrator with more than 36 sex crimes.”

The DA’s office has repeatedly credited Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope Child Advocacy Center with helping to increase arrests and convictions of child sex abusers in the three-county area.“With the forensic interview at Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope, it’s a game-changer,” said Jason Minnicozzi, assistant district attorney for Columbus, Brunswick and Bladen counties. “We can effectively capture children’s stories in a forensic setting and bring that to the courtroom which gives us much better results to effectively get justice for these victims and their families in our community. I think what Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope is doing is changing the system here in this district. We’ve seen it time and time again. I’m just so grateful for what they do and for our partnership.”

Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope Director Danielle Nolan said it’s an honor to work with the children and families at the CAC. “When children get here, they have a forensic interview to let them know that what they say is important. From the time they walk through the door, we tell the kids that our job is to help keep them safe and healthy from head to toe,” she said. “It’s such a rewarding job to provide this for children and families in our community so that it’s kind of like a one stop shop. A while ago, kids had to go to a bunch of different places to tell their story where now they can be so brave and only have to share one time instead of doing that in a bunch of different places.”

In coming months, the CAC plans to accomplish its national accreditation through the National Children’s Alliance. The presenting sponsor for the Kaleidoscope of Hope Soiree is GFL Environmental and our naming sponsor for the event is Roy Register whose late wife, Carolyn, was a BGHNC board member and the namesake of Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope Child Advocacy Center.

Carolyn’s Kaleidoscope Child Advocacy Center
A program of Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina, the CAC team in Whiteville, N.C. meets with child victims and non-offending caregivers to help heal children from the traumas of sexual and physical abuse, and to increase prosecution of offenders. The center mainly serves children in Columbus, Bladen and Robeson counties.

Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina
Headquartered in Lake Waccamaw, NC since 1954, Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina has served more than 7,500 children as a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 agency. Its mission is to provide a comprehensive array of services for children and youth who have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or other family challenges. BGHNC offers adoption, family and
therapeutic foster care, Success Coach services to prevent children from coming into foster care, and free children’s therapy, as well as residential care on the campus at Lake Waccamaw. The campus features a SACS-accredited charter school with a middle and high school curriculum, vocational education, recreation facilities, farm, equine therapy and a chapel. BGHNC is
nationally accredited by the Council on Accreditation. To learn more, please visit https://boysandgirlshomes.org/