ESCANABA — Efforts to establish a child advocacy center at the former Michigan Works! building behind the Delta County Service Center have continued over the past few months.

People involved with the effort said they expect the center, which will provide and coordinate services for child victims and their families, to open this summer.

The center is being established by the Northern Michigan Mobile Child Advocacy Center.

“Our organization opened our doors in 2014 with a mission to reach underserved children in rural areas (of) Michigan,” NMMCAC Executive Director Bethany Law said.

The center started out by offering services to children in the counties of Clare and Gladwin at their center in Harrison, Mich., and have since introduced a mobile center which serves the counties of Missaukee and Gladwin.

In late 2016, the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Michigan performed an assessment of child advocacy centers in the state. When this assessment took place, 11 percent of Michigan children lacked access to child advocacy centers — and a significant number of these children lived in the Upper Peninsula.

“At the time, 100 percent of the children in the Upper Peninsula lacked services,” Law said.

When it opens, the NMMCAC’s Escanaba center will be able to serve children in Delta County and will welcome referrals from other counties requesting these services. As part of this initiative, local police and state agencies have partnered together to form a multi-disciplinary team that will investigate cases related to child abuse and neglect in Delta County.

The center should be fully prepared for operation in mid-May.