The current model for dealing with child abuse entails the child to tell their story as many as seven times to the police, Family and Children Services, a teacher and maybe even a doctor, which is not only difficult on the child, but often produces different variations of the abuse.

The Child Advocacy Centre Niagara set to open Aug. 1 changes the way child abuse is dealt with by integrating all services under one roof, said chairman Roy Hardman. It's the first facility of its kind in Canada.

Family and Children Services, the Niagara Regional Police child abuse unit, a medical doctor an executive director, a therapist and a psychologist will work together to decide the best possible treatment for the victim.

The Child Advocacy Support Team, or CAST, will work together to heal the situation better than all of the services individually.

Hardman said the current process is so complicated sometimes people do not want to report at all.

But the new facility at 8 Forster St. in St. Catharines is conducive to healing, which will reduce trauma and increase conviction rates.

"The building has be reconstructed to do that," Hardman said.

It is in a subdivision and has two waiting rooms, one for younger children and one for older children.

They will be greeted by a member of the CAST team and once the child is ready to talk they will go into an interview room.

From there the team will decide what the best thing for the child is and the executive director will follow up to see if the child has the best quality of life possible.

In Niagara between 2006 and 2007, there were 708 reported cases of physical child abuse and 348 reported cases of sexual child abuse.

Hardman said, "We're anticipating as awareness increases the numbers will increase."

The Niagara Regional Police Association recently held a golf tournament to help raise cash for the establishment of the building.

The golf tournament is in its second year, raising $19,000 this year and $15,000 last year.