Services at children’s center halted over staffing shortage

Clark County Family Services has suspended medical services offered at the Children's Advocacy Center because of insufficient staffing.

Family Services spokeswoman Christine Skorupski said Wednesday that services will resume as soon as the staffing issue is resolved. She was unable to provide a timeline of when that might be.

Services were stopped last Thursday. Skorupski declined to elaborate on why staffing was down.

Among the services now on hiatus is the Sexual Abuse Investigative Team, or SAINT, which opened in 1990 to offer a child-friendly approach to investigating sexual abuse.

SAINT handles 10 to 30 cases a month at the advocacy center, which has special rooms for children being interviewed and examined for suspected sexual abuse.

Children who require those types of services will be taken to other medical providers in the community until SAINT reopens, Skorupski said.

The temporary closure angered Donna Coleman, a child advocate who helped raise more than $1 million to build the center.

Coleman said the county's decision means that traumatized children will face lengthy waits at hospitals to obtain services the center was designed to provide.

"I don't believe this is a reasonable reason to stop the exams," Coleman said.

"SAINT has provided a valuable service to kids for 16 years."