Friends of the Sangamon County Child Advocacy Center held a second annual “La Nuit de L’Enfant” benefit gala on March 28 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield.

The organization had conducted a panel discussion at noon that day at the former Cherry Hills Baptist Church to kick off an effort to convert the vacant building at 1220 Outer Park Drive into a Children’s Justice Center.

The Advocacy Center, which opened in 1989, handles about 300 cases of child sexual abuse annually. Its founding director and Friends board president, Betsy Goulet, hopes to merge several child-centered social service agencies into a single location.

Goulet and assistant Sangamon County state’s attorney Sheryl K. Essenburg, who prosecutes child sexual abuse cases, toured the church site and found it adaptable as an enlarged center for advocacy organizations.

Plans include formation of a foundation that would oversee the development and its prospective tenants, and could be able to attract grants for the project.

The Friends board also has discussed a partnership with the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine through which doctors in training would work in the Justice Center.

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