According to a Weber County press release, the Weber-Morgan Children’s Justice Center — located at at 1845 Jackson Ave. — is set to celebrate its ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. May 22.

“The CJC is a child-friendly facility designed to make children feel comfortable and safe when they are meeting with investigators and team members about allegations of abuse,” the release said. “When children visit the CJC, they meet with specially trained forensic interviewers to talk about the alleged abuse they have experienced. The goal is to minimize trauma to the children by reducing the number of times they must talk about their experiences. When the children return to their families, schools or communities, their anxiety has greatly reduced because they no longer feel like they are hiding a ‘secret.’ The children and their families will continue to receive support services, such as therapy, medical care and victim resources as needed.”

Scott Brenkman, executive director of the Weber-Morgan Children’s Justice Center, said the new facility is a collaborative effort.

“This project was made possible by the collaboration of cities, counties, school districts, community partners and donors with the vision to provide a safe place and healing for children in our community,” he said in the release. “The building — from the location, layout, colors and artwork–is specifically designed to reduce trauma the moment a child steps through the door.”

Ground was broken on the new CJC in February 2024. It replaces the current CJC located at 2408 Van Buren Ave.

During the groundbreaking ceremony last year, Rod Layton, the Weber-Morgan Children’s Justice Center’s executive director at that time, said the need had outgrown the Van Buren Avenue facility.

“Our cases have doubled,” he said. “It’s just not the right facility to do what we do. We’ve seen lots of changes in our program, we’ve seen a difference in the way we deal with children — the mental health component, the medical component. There’s just a lot of stuff that’s changed and we said it’s time to move.”

Options had been explored to remodel the previous facility, but it was seen as too expensive an endeavor.

Several community partners have donated to the new CJC. This includes The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which donated $300,000 toward the project in February.

The public is welcome to attend next week’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.