National Child Abuse Prevention Month recognizes the importance of families and communities working together to strengthen families to prevent child abuse and neglect. Through this collaboration, prevention services and support help protect children and produce thriving families.

The Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) opened in 1992, as a result of years of cooperative efforts by representatives of local child-serving organizations who saw a need for a neutral, free-standing facility where the agencies of help could come together on behalf of child victims and witnesses, who would be interviewed only once via video. Previously, victimized children were interviewed repeatedly, usually in surroundings designed for the convenience of adults rather than the comfort of kids, by well-meaning grown-ups who lacked any specialized training in interviewing young children about embarrassing personal information. Recording interviews reduces the number of times kids must talk about their abuse, thus decreasing the trauma of disclosure and preserving the child’s initial statement for court purposes.

The Chatham County Child Sexual Abuse Task Force eventually merged with the Domestic Violence Task Force, to form the county’s Family Violence Council, which continues to meet monthly, to ensure coordination of services and offer training and education on domestic violence and child abuse.

The CAC Model

To understand what a Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) is, you must understand what children face without one. Without a CAC, the child may end up having to tell the worst story of his or her life repeatedly, to doctors, cops, lawyers, therapists, investigators, judges, and others. They may have to talk about that traumatic experience in a police station where they think they might be in trouble or may be asked the wrong questions by a well-meaning teacher or other adult that could hurt the case against the abuser.

When police or child protective services believe a child may be experiencing abuse, the child is brought to the CAC—a safe, child-focused environment—by a caregiver or other “safe” adult. At the CAC, the child tells their story once to a trained interviewer who knows the right questions to ask in a way that does not retraumatize the child. Then, a team that includes medical professionals, law enforcement, mental health, prosecution, child protective services, victim advocacy, and other professionals make decisions together about how to help the child based on the interview. CACs offer therapy and medical exams, plus courtroom preparation, victim advocacy, case management, and other services. This is called the multidisciplinary team (MDT) response and is a core part of the work of CACs.

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