BY AMY FLOWERS UMBLE

Gail Perkins didn't know how this child rape exam would go.

The 7-year-old girl grasped her mom's hand in a death grip as they walked into the Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center in July, recalled Perkins, trained in performing sexual assault physicals.

The center's cheery teal walls, beach decor and murals are supposed to put children at ease.

But this little girl wasn't soothed. She clasped her mom with one hand and a crayon with the other as she drew in the children's waiting room.

Spotsylvania County Detective Twyla DeMoranville talked the girl into a one-on-one interview, in which the child opened up about sexual abuse.

As the interview went on, it became apparent the girl would be the first to use the child-friendly center's examination room.

Victims who have been abused within 72 hours could still have evidence on their bodies, and a nurse performs a physical exam to get that evidence.

This young girl lay on colorful sheets and Tinkerbell bedding for her exam. And when it was all over and she lightly held her mother's hand on the way out the door, she said she'd like to visit the center in Massaponax again.

For Perkins, that was success--exactly what she pictured while advocating for the regional center, a place where a child abuse victim could be interviewed and examined in a child-friendly atmosphere.

For DeMoranville, the success came shortly after. When confronted by the evidence gathered at the center, the suspect confessed.

Perkins had long pushed for such a center in the area. The manager of forensic services at Mary Washington Hospital knew the center was needed. She performed 70 child sexual abuse exams at the Fredericksburg hospital in 2007.

And during her training in Richmond, she saw firsthand how a child-friendly atmosphere could comfort a child in the midst of trauma.

The Spotsylvania center opened in May, and more than 60 children have been served.

Before it opened, area children who'd been abused or who'd witnessed a crime could endure as many as 14 interviews--by deputies, detectives, social workers, nurses, psychologists and lawyers.