Print edition: 
If the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County shuts down, it will be a casualty of apathy as well as the economy.
Because 31 other Kansas counties are served by eight accredited child advocacy centers, losing the long-sought local center also will leave a frustrating question:
What's wrong with Sedgwick County?
As an article in Wednesday's Eagle explained, the 2-year-old nonprofit organization has been unable to find the money it needs to move out of its cramped quarters in the Finney State Office Building and into a space suited to its mission — to handle cases of child abuse and neglect holistically and with as little stress on kids as possible, by having social workers, medical personnel, prosecutors, victims' advocates, counselors and cops all under one roof.
Now, because of the lack of funds needed to operate as well as move, its board could vote to close the center within a few months, according to Ron Paschal, deputy district attorney in Sedgwick County and president of the center's board.
Sedgwick County staff spent several months working up a $835,000 funding plan that would allow a move to the Twin Lakes area. But earlier this month, county commissioners nixed that amount and made $300,000 contingent on the city of Wichita and the state kicking in. No such partnership has formed (and the center already had received a $112,000 state grant last fall), leaving the center out of luck.
Child abuse and neglect won't end in Sedgwick County if the center stops operating, of course — not with more than 2,600 local cases a year of kids who are sexually and physically abused, runaways or victims of Internet crime. But such cases won't be handled as carefully and cost-efficiently as possible, putting unnecessary stress on children and families.
It's hard to believe that neither the city nor the county owns a building that could serve the center's needs and keep costs down. But if a major investment is necessary, the center could use a marquee fundraiser.
When Sunflower House, the Shawnee center that serves Johnson and Wyandotte counties, mounted a $4.25 million capital campaign a decade ago, it tapped Mark and Stacy Parkinson to chair it.
During a Wednesday meeting with The Eagle editorial board, now-Gov. Mark Parkinson praised the child advocacy center model for its ability to streamline investigative resources and even enhance conviction rates. Most of all, he said, the center can keep the interviewing of child victims to a minimum. "It grants them dignity and privacy," Parkinson said.
Is there someone in government or otherwise with the will and means to step in and sustain Sedgwick County's center? If so, it's time. If not, it will be tragic.
