TAZEWELL, Va. – Honoring the life of a local child abuse victim, while preventing another tragedy.

We’ve been following two-year-old Harper Mitchell’s story since her death in 2020.

A Radford man was convicted of her murder last week, and a new advocacy center is opening in her name to help other child abuse victims.

[Man faces murder charge related to Radford 2-year-old’s death]

Harper’s father describes his daughter as a bright-eyed, two-year-old, that liked to run around and play.

“She certainly didn’t deserve what happened to her,” April Morefield, founder of Harper’s Home said. “No child deserves abuse in any capacity but Harper actually paid the ultimate price with her life.”

April Morefield is the Director of Southwest Virginia’s CARE center. It was through that work that she met Harper’s grandparents and was touched by Harper’s story. Then, she got to work.

“Governor Youngkin appointed me to the Safe and Sound task force to help end the problem with children sleeping in ERs, and hotel rooms, and DSS agencies across Virginia,” Morefield said. “This is part of that solution we hope. Harper’s Home is a safe landing place for children who are transitioning from their home to foster care homes.”

Janice Dinkins-Davidson, Executive Director of Children’s Advocacy Centers of Virginia said thousands of children suffer child abuse across the Commonwealth.

“Almost 36,000 reports into VDSS, the Department of Social Services, of those over 31,000 were founded cases,” Dinkins-Davidson said. “Meaning that they determined that child abuse had in fact occurred.”

With the great need, Morefield hopes to open Harper’s Home by the end of the year.

“I felt like by creating Harper’s home that this would never, ever, ever allow her memory to be forgotten,” Morefield said.

Morefield said the home is in need of repair help and donations to get the project off the ground. For more information, visit their Facebook.