The All Star Children’s Center: Building a Brighter Future in Foster Care

By Gus Mollasis

By the time you finish reading this article, another 60 cases of child abuse will have been reported in the United States. That is outrageous. Any number but zero is too many in a civilized and forward-thinking society. 

And zero is the only acceptable outcome for Graci and Dennis McGillicuddy, a giving and loving couple who have devoted many of their years to breaking the cycle of child abuse. It was the McGillicuddys’ passion, financial support and tenacity that built the Child Protection Center in 2010 – a vital organization (located on Orange Avenue in Sarasota) that aids in the prevention, intervention and treatment of child abuse. 

While the agency addresses many important and immediate needs relating to child abuse, the McGillicuddys realized that traumatized children have another need: a place where they feel loved and nurtured, a fostering place where they will feel safe, where the effects of their trauma will fade, and where compassion and new scientific treatments will shine a light on their lives.  

For Graci and Dennis, they choose not to fill their golden years with the carefree days they’ve earned and deserve. Instead, they choose to spend every day fighting for kids. Rest is not an option; they are laser-focused on building a campus of hope and healing, a campus that will become a foster care model for the rest of our country, a campus called the All Star Children’s Center. And they need your help. 

The campus will go back in time and share loving and nurturing principles with children who either experienced these vitally important formative principles for only a short time or who never knew them at all. It will also turn the clock ahead by utilizing the latest science and technology to break this heartbreaking cycle of trauma. It is a challenging goal for even the most optimistic among us, but for this passionate and philanthropic couple, failure is not an option. 

As they sit together in their beautiful, comfortable and unpretentious Siesta Key home at the end of a long week of busy meetings, their satisfying smiles fade to looks of concern as we began talking about the current foster care system.

They know all too well the tragic numbers by heart and each of them take their turn reciting them:

“400,000 children are in the foster care system in the United States.”

“Every 10 seconds a report of child abuse is made.”

“80 percent of prisoners were abused as children.”

“77 percent of children who die from abuse in Florida are under the age of four.”

 “50 percent of siblings are separated due to a shortage of foster homes.”

These are the sobering numbers which drive this powerhouse couple into action to raise other kinds of numbers—dollars—which they hope will help impact countless numbers of children. 

Both Graci and Dennis know while these tragic numbers represent the big picture—a failing systemic issue in society—the real number that they are concerned with is ONE. Each one of these numbers is a person with an individual story of a nightmarish tale of trauma. 

“Can you imagine being taken away from your home in the middle of the night, the home where you grew up, as you watch your parent being arrested while your brothers and sisters are placed in separate police cars?” As Graci speaks these words from a place deep in her soul, you can feel her pain for these children, so real and so raw.

“And not only that, try to imagine that in the coming days your future is uncertain. You might have a safe place to live or you might not. Getting enough to eat and having decent clean clothes to wear to school becomes an issue, and that should not be an issue for any child.” 

“Finally, after all that trauma,” Graci pauses, “After all that, can you imagine that nobody even asks you about what happened to you on that night and other nights? Can you imagine that?” It is a scenario that has been played out countless times in America, and it’s a scenario that’s playing out every minute of every day.

Both Graci and Dennis know all too well the impact of non-action, the influence of inadequate treatment, and the importance of getting involved today to improve a child’s chance of having a hopeful tomorrow. That is why this couple doesn’t sit still. They’re always in motion, always doing something to help a cause they are passionate about, whether it be raising funds or rolling up their sleeves and doing the hard work to make a positive impact. 

While they’re well-known in town for supporting many important organizations, their signature causes are Graci’s work at the Child Advocacy Center (a.k.a. Child Protection Center) and now the All Star Children’s Center, and Dennis’s leadership in Embracing Our Differences, an organization he founded that uses the power of art and education through its annual exhibition and educational programs and initiatives to expand consciousness and open the heart to celebrate diversity. 

The McGillicuddys have forged many great friendships in town and have received the support of many other community philanthropists for their endeavors, all of whom are very grateful for their efforts.   

One noted Sarasota philanthropic couple who are among the grateful is Skip and Gail Sack. Skip sums it up this way: “Both Gail and I look up to Dennis and Graci. They are our role models for what it means to give and get involved in what they are giving to. They define the term philanthropy. When they get involved, they really get involved. And not only with money, but with efforts that come from their hearts.”

For Graci and Dennis, the passion is evident and measurable; the enthusiasm they share for positive change they hope will be contagious both within the local community and nationwide. They are putting their blood, sweat and tears behind the All-Star Children’s Center, and their belief in its importance is something they feel deep in their bones. 

The Center will be built under the guidance of the expert eye of Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, who will help ensure that the latest evidenced-based protocols and treatments will be delivered to all the children on campus and in the outpatient program.  

It is something that they hope will build a brighter future in foster care and something they both know is too important to put off for tomorrow. Dennis sums up the mantra of the center and the couple’s collective approach this way: “Transforming foster care with innovation, science and compassion. Both Graci and I realize that to break this cycle of abuse, you have to bring science and compassion to it.” 

The cycle starts when a child is abused by a parent or relative, a high percentage of whom were abused themselves. Foster care agencies struggle to find a place for these children in an already-overcrowded system. Siblings may be separated, deepening the trauma, while extended family members and foster parents lack the resources and the training to deal with traumatized children. Finally, the child’s trauma manifests in a variety of ways, which may lead to multiple foster home placements. It’s a heartbreaking cycle that continues to go around and around, and as clear as it is frustrating, the cycle will continue to repeat itself. 

Both Graci and Dennis are firm believers in the science component of the treatment that will be offered through the All Star Children’s Center. They know all too well that the old ways aren’t good enough, and that getting it right only part of the time will not do.

“I remember a colleague saying to me, ‘If I could put the words child abuse in a bottle and throw it out to sea and fifty years from now someone finds that bottle and says ‘child abuse, what’s that?’ It would be because they wouldn’t know what it is because it doesn’t exist anymore. Then we would have broken the cycle of child abuse.’ That’s my dream.”

“I always wanted to create a nurturing, loving place for children to be when they have been taken away from home. However, that would never break the cycle, because no matter how loving and nurturing the home is, without trauma-based care it’s going to continue, because children will always have those triggers,” said Graci.

“Child abuse is such a dark secret, and therefore it’s easy to sweep under the table and put out of our minds. The facts are staggering: there are seven reported cases of abuse or neglect every day in Sarasota, resulting in over 1,600 children being in our local foster care system,” Dennis adds. 

“I’ve been on this mission and path, but because Dennis has jumped in, we are now dealing with it on real scientific basis with which we can break that cycle of child abuse,” added Graci.

Dr. Robert Block, the noted former President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has stated, “Adverse childhood experiences (trauma) are the single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today.”  

Now, because of a comprehensive system of trauma-informed care, there is hope. The latest research in brain science has proven trauma can be healed in a relatively short period of time. This science rests on the discovery of neuroplasticity where thoughts and emotions recorded in the brain’s cells are dynamic and can change over the course of lifetime, which contrasts previous beliefs that cells recorded from early childhood experiences remain static. 

Dennis is excited about the new pathways to hope and healing. “Essentially what it does is create new neuropathways so when a person is triggered into bringing a memory back, instead of going into the flight, fight or freeze mode, this therapy allows the child to develop new neuropathways so that they understand that they have other choices besides fight, flight or freeze.”  

“You never know what a trigger can be. It can be a smell, like a certain perfume, a sound, such as a melody or song, merely a look, or even a certain word that was uttered when that child was being abused. They can all be triggers. Most importantly, what this means is that if we can help a child trace their trauma to its source, we can work with them to consciously build new habits, responses, choices and new ways of dealing with them instead of repeating the old ones,” Graci adds while sharing a hopeful smile.  

These are encouraging words, to say the least, from a couple who are as pragmatic as they are passionate in solving this problem that affects so many children and families.

“Come invest with us. Children are our future and our greatest investment, period,” Graci says passionately as Dennis looks proudly on, clearly in agreement with his wife’s ardent plea. 

He adds, “There are so many opportunities for people to become engaged in what we are doing. Obviously, we need funding, so we’re looking for people who are willing to donate. Volunteer opportunities; opportunities to collaborate with other organizations; the opportunity to teach people who are going to enter social service to work and deal with child abuse.” 

Still, with all the hope, science and compassion that this wonderful campus of hope and healing will provide, both Graci and Dennis face the stark reality of what’s at stake. They know the clock is always ticking and that every ten seconds in America a case of child abuse is reported.

The time is here and now; there is hope in the future because of the All Star Children’s Center.

Ground has been broken on the site, located near 17th Street and Lockwood Ridge Road. Once completed, the five-acre center will provide comprehensive trauma-informed care to as many as 60 children at a time.

Fundraising efforts are in full swing, with the goal of raising over $13 million—a goal very much in sight thanks to the generous pledge of $1 million by the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation to fund a position at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital to design its trauma-informed treatment program, as well as a state grant of $2.5 million for building expenses. 

And while the capital campaign has been launched and some funds have been raised, much more are needed to complete the ambitious campus that will include an outpatient facility, six licensed foster homes and a community center. 

The campus will also include a central park, where children can picnic, relax and energize their spirit. A playground will supply all the wonderful opportunities for kids to learn to play and cooperate with others. A children’s boutique will provide children, many of whom enter the foster system with only the worn and often dirty clothes on their back, a chance to pick out some new and clean clothes. Finally, a garden will give foster families and children a chance to grow and pick fruits, vegetables and flowers on campus. Most importantly, the All Star Children’s Center will provide a time and place for all children to help reverse the trend and heal their trauma with the latest scientific care.

In the film Judgement at Nuremburg, in which judgement was cast on those who participated in the atrocities of Nazi Germany toward the millions of innocent men, women and children, chief judge Dan Haywood (portrayed by Spencer Tracy) said, “Before the people of the world – let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what we stand for: justice, truth…and the value of a single human being!”

The value of one human being. 

In a system that too often fails children, it is the value of one single child with his or her own painful journey built on fear and mistreatment that hits Graci McGillicuddy in her core as a caring mother and grandmother. “The reason I’m so absolutely passionate about what we’re doing is I look at each and every child and ask the question, ‘What if this happened to my grandchild? Wouldn’t I want them to get the best care that I possibly could get?’ We just have to take care of our kids. These are our kids. These are our children.” 

“That’s where the urgency lies. I think every single person needs to realize these horrible things are happening to children; then it may mean something more than 400,000 incidents. What if one of them was your grandchild? Every one of these numbers is a child that we must protect.” Dennis believes this will “clearly be a lifelong undertaking. This is a long-term commitment and we expect to see this work continue long after we’re gone. We just hope to plant the right seeds that lead to Graci’s ultimate dream in which child abuse has been totally obliterated.”

The All Star Children’s Center is a dream that must become reality. Just remember: after you finish reading this article, another report of child abuse has been made. The time to help is now.

For more information on how you can help, visit allstarchildrensfoundation.org or call 941.349.2770

For questions about programs and services: LindseyM@ascf.care 

For questions about donations, events or fundraising: BethB@ascf.care 

Gus Mollasis is a writer, author, filmmaker and film teacher. He can be read on the pages of Sarasota Scene in his monthly Scenes from an Interview and teaching film at local venues such as the Longboat Key Education Center.