New women and children’s center in Winter Haven

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Talbot House Ministries in Polk County celebrated the opening of its first-ever women and children center located in Winter Haven.

Polk County officials and residents attended the ceremony and got to take a tour inside the center. Its center in Lakeland houses men and women, but this center will focus on women and children.

It has rooms for mothers and infants, women with special needs children and more. It will help provide those women with housing connections, medical services, mental health counseling, parenting skills and much more.

Maria Cruz, the executive director, said they want to create a safe and empowering environment, and its system will work a bit differently from the Lakeland facility.

“Once a bed is empty, because we place an individual or whatever the circumstance may be, then that bed is going to be open for the next person to be assessed and screened and made sure that they are going to be a good fit for the program,” Cruz said.

The center can house up to 62 women and children, with 20 overflow emergency beds. They estimate mid-August is when women and children will start moving into the center.

Every person who will live at the center will also have to go through an extensive background check.