Alex and Brandon
At the Alex and Brandon Child Safety Center, families can interact in the kitchen and indoor and outdoor play area.
Child Safety Center
a participant of the Teen Challenge Program. A non-custodial parent working on getting custodial rights reinstated is encouraged to have their visits supervised. A court order is not required. Cost to families depends on many criteria. Exchanges require a small flat fee, while supervised visits might be based on a sliding scale for income or victimization. At the Alex and Brandon Child Safety Center, children pass through the halls daily. With a positive and caring atmosphere, anxiety is alleviated and great reunions take place. Outside pressures are removed, giving the family the ability to just be together. Visits become a simpler and more relaxing time. A child who has not seen a parent for some time has not lost any of the love they hold for that parent. Distance has made the pain of separation more acute, and the first sight of the “lost” parent can be very emotional. It is the beginning of the healing for both par22 22 Fall Fall2016 2016| her | hervoice voice
ent and child. The emotions are like a dam bursting, and the love floods out, filling child and parent with a confusing, exhilarating, and exhausting emotional outlet. Both need this. The Alex and Brandon Child Safety Center is a safe environment. A sad event created the Alex and Brandon Child Safety Center. In 1996, Alex and Brandon Frank, age 5 and 4, visited their father. Kurt Frank stabbed both boys and himself. The boys did not make it. Kurt was hospitalized and then sentenced to two consecutive life sentences for their murders. The news hit our local area hard. The boys had attended support groups at the Mid-Minnesota’s Women’s Center, a not-for-profit organization, that raised money to build the Alex and Brandon Child Safety Center. Through generous donations, they were able to construct the current building in 2000. The Alex and Brandon Child Safety Center is dedicated to preventing