By CAROLINE CARMICHAEL / Staff Writer

When the child advocacy center first began offering its service to Chilton County child victims of abuse in 2009, it was under Montgomery’s Child Protect umbrella.

At the time, it had no idea just how great the need for its services in Chilton County was.

By 2012, the center had metamorphosed into Butterfly Bridge Child Advocacy Center, an independent 501c3 that meets local needs with greater attention and supply of services.

That was five years ago.

Today, child advocacy centers in Autauga and Elmore counties are gaping at the dire need for more services in their own counties, so Butterfly Bridge CAC is “spreading its wings” and officially tucking them under the Butterfly Bridge CAC umbrella.

“Come Oct. 1, those two counties will have their own offices to provide services for those kids in their communities, but they will come up under our umbrella and our 501c3 nonprofit,” Jana Zuelzke, Butterfly Bridge CAC director and child forensic interview specialist, said.

Zuelzke said Autauga and Elmore centers were satellite offices based out of Montgomery’s Child Protect, as well.

“So, essentially the same thing is happening in those counties that we were going through five or six years ago,” Zuelzke said.

Zuelzke said the three counties are included in the 19th Judicial Circuit and worked with the same professionals anyway, “so it just makes sense.”

Together with the Butterfly Bridge CAC, the Autauga and Elmore centers will provide a variety of services, delivered in a homelike atmosphere, that cultivate healing and assist in bringing justice for 3- to 17-year-old victims of abuse.

“We provide forensic interviews during a child abuse investigation, and then we also provide therapy services and advocacy services throughout the life of a case in the criminal justice system,” Zuelzke said. Additionally, “we coordinate our local, multi-disciplinary team of child abuse professionals, and also do education within the community on child abuse related topics.”

Butterfly Bridge CAC hosts several events throughout the year that provide education for and raise both funds and awareness to the cause of the children aided by the nonprofit.

Among these, are February’s “Flutter” event and observation of Child Abuse Prevention Month in April, demonstrated annually with a restaurant give-back event.

Autauga and Elmore centers participate in Child Abuse Prevention Month, as well, and also host a Bridge of Hope 5k in the fall.

Zuelzke said funds raised for the centers strictly benefit the children served by whichever center received or collected the funds.

Brittani Ellison, campaign coordinator for Butterfly Bridge CAC, said the nonprofit has undergone additional makeovers in its rebranding, including a new logo featuring its expanded outreach to Autauga and Elmore counties, and a transformation of the website to a more user-friendly format that encompass the additional county offices.

For more information about Butterfly Bridge CAC, visit ButterflyBridgecac.org or check out its Facebook page.