The Lakeshore Advocacy Center is the recipient of a special donation this year.
The advocacy center works with law enforcement, child protective services and other state organizations to make sure there is a coordinated response to child abuse in the community. And in an effort to help make children feel comfortable before being in court, they received play scale models of the Manistee and Mecosta Court House.
The replica comes from Joseph Soper of Imagination Dollhouses for Children. Courtroom advocates took photos from multiple angles to help Taylor Merrill, a senior at Bear Lake High School, create the wooden models.
The advocacy center says the models will take a little bit of the scary out of getting ready for court.
“Going to court is scary for anyone, but especially a child and especially a child who has been through a traumatic experience like abuse. So anything that we can do to help make sure that the child is relaxed and that their testimony isn’t influenced overly by anxiety or fear,” Megan McCarthy, the Executive Director for Lakeshore Children’s Advocacy Center, said.
This is not the first item Soper has donated to the advocacy center. He also donated a large doll house for the intake area.
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