What is a CAC? Mission and History :

We can't change what happened, but we can change what happens next.

The mission of the Children's Advocacy Center is to promote the healing of child victims of sexual and/or physical abuse. How do we accomplish our mission?

In years past, when a child was suspected to have been the victim of abuse, the child was made to travel all over town to places such as the Police Department, Child Protective Services office, Sheriff's Department or the County/District Attorney's office - and many times, to a doctor for examination. These places can be intimidating for anyone - imagine how it must feel for a small child. By the time it was all said and done, the child victim may have repeated their story of abuse 5-10 different times to strangers over the course of weeks or months.

Before Children's Advocacy Centers, this was the process for investigating child sexual and physical abuse cases. Children who had suffered unbelievable trauma had to relive their pain repeatedly in a variety of strange and scary surroundings.

Children's Advocacy Center's changed all that by operating on the fundamental belief that protecting our children requires us to make our system work at their level. The Center is a place where children can feel safe and protected as they go through the difficult process of describing what happened to them. These children travel to fewer investigative agencies, go through fewer interviews, and wait less time for critical services such as counseling and medical exams.

A multi-disciplinary team (MDT) is in place at the Children's Advocacy Center. This team consists of representatives from the Police Department, Sheriff's Department, County/District Attorney's Office, Child Protective Services, local counselors and sexual assault nurse examiners (SANE nurses). By having all the necessary professionals gathered at the Center when a child must be interviewed, we strive to minimize the number of times the child must talk about the abuse. Team members collaborate on the case and all decisions are made in the best interest of the child victims. Reducing the number of times the child victim is forced to tell their story of abuse reduces the amount of trauma and re-victimization suffered by these children.

Step-by-Step :

When a child is suspected to have been the victim of abuse in Lamar or Red River County, the child is brought to the Center. Upon entering the Center the child is welcomed by a child-friendly staff member who helps the child adjust to their surroundings and makes them feel at home.

At the Children's Advocacy Center, rooms are geared specifically to the children by having toys, books, and games that the children can play and feel at home in.

When it comes time for the interview, only one person - a specially trained forensic interviewer - actually talks to the child regarding the abuse. The other team members watch the interview on closed-circuit television as it is being conducted and videotaped. Team members are able to communicate with the interviewer during the interview, thus ensuring that all the information needed by the different agencies is gathered at that time. This team approach allows all of the professionals involved to exchange valuable information that otherwise might be lost.

Efficient, timely, and comprehensive sharing of information and evidence among participating agencies results in less trauma for the child, stronger cases for the prosecution of the perpetrators, and a more timely exoneration of the innocent.

Once the interview is completed, the child is allowed to visit a "teddy bear" room and pick out any one new stuffed animal they want to take home with them.

On-site examinations, when needed :

On-site SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners) examinations are conducted at the CAC when necessary. This program became active in 2004. A SANE is a registered nurse who has been specifically trained to provide comprehensive care to sexual assault patients and who demonstrates competency in conducting a forensic exam and the ability to be an expert witness.

With this private location for exams, nurses who are specifically trained and on-call as needed make it less complicated - children no longer have to visit over-worked emergency rooms or pediatrician's offices. Now children no longer have to wait hours or even days for these exams and they are conducted in our home-like setting by personnel with extensive training. More than forty of these exams have been provided since the inception of this program.

Working together ... to change what happens next.

CAC of Paris is a non-profit organization and we look to our community to help us to be able to continue to serve children of this horrific abuse. A child who has been abused is changed forever. The experience can't be undone. Our community is working together with the CAC to lessen a child's pain, anger, fear and confusion of the investigation and prosecution of his or her abuser. We are changing what happens next.