Abused children find comfort at ''Mary Lee's House'' | News

TAMPA, Florida -- When Mary Lee's House opened four years ago, the toys made children feel welcome.

But stuffed animals, soft colors, and the life-size tree hanging over the lobby aren't just decorations. They're the tools to help children feel at ease as they prepare to tell their stories of severe trauma, abuse, or neglect.

Most of them are under the age of five.

"Domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, a lot of the things people don't like to think about that occur in our community," says Dr. Leslie Kille, who works in trauma recovery at the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay inside Mary Lee's House.

Mary Lee's House on Armenia Avenue is where children go after they've been abused or neglected and referred either by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office or by Florida's Abuse Hotline. Here, they can receive medical exams, interviews from investigators, and counseling through art.

"The place was built with them in mind," says Trish Waterman, director of the Children's Justice Center inside Mary Lee's House.

From a colorful wall mural created by the USF Art Club, to tons of toys all placed at eye level, to a closet for children who may have never had new clothes before, Mary Lee's House is designed to make a difference in the lives of children who may have suffered abuse or neglect.

"We get to offer them healing," Dr. Kille says. 

But offering that healing was a lot harder before Mary Lee's House opened in 2008.

"[Those children] would have had to travel from downtown for their forensic interview, to USF for their medical exam, and then for counseling, somewhere else within the county," says clinic supervisor Andrew Strope.

Before children leave Mary Lee's House, some of them trace their hands onto bright sheets of paper. A wall full of those hands shows future children who walk through Mary Lee's House that they're not alone.

In fact, the advocacy center saw more than a thousand children last year.

Inside interview rooms, video cameras are tucked away so children don't get nervous by seeing them. Each camera can be seen and recorded in a control room. That way, attorneys and judges can hear a child's story at a later date without forcing that child to relive trauma. 

Professional lighting has been installed in the interview rooms so a judge can see the true emotion on a child's face.

"We get to offer them a way of life that can be different for them," says Dr. Kille.

A way of life that all starts with a step inside Mary Lee's House.

"It's a labor of love, truly," she says.