Why a Child Advocacy Center? 

A child has been abused. Physically abused. Sexually abused. Unfortunately, this is often just the beginning of the nightmare. If a child comes forward, she will go to a social worker. The social worker interviews the child about what has happened to her. She will go to a doctor to be interviewed and examined. She will go to the police to tell them what has happened so that they can investigate. She may have to go to court to see if she needs to be taken away from their family. That is if she comes forward. If she doesn’t, she and her family will deal with the pain, the guilt and the fear all by themselves.

With a Child Advocacy Center, things are different. The Child Advocacy Center looks and feels like a home. The waiting room is designed to look like a living room, complete with a fireplace. There is a kitchen area to sit and talk. There is a playroom with toys and games. There are rooms for individual and group counseling. In short, the Child Advocacy Center makes it easier and more comfortable for a child to come forward and receive help after abuse has occurred.

Another benefit of the Advocacy Center is that when a child talks to a counselor about what has happened to him, medical personnel, members of law enforcement, the court and other social service agencies can observe this interview together. He will not have to go from place to place, office to office telling what has happened to him over and over. He will also receive counseling in the same building. He will feel safe and more comfortable coming to the same location to meet with the same counselor. The non-offending members of the family will receive counseling in the same building. Then, the family can then begin to heal together.

The Exchange Club-Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse opened its Child Advocacy Center in Jackson, Tennessee in October 2003. Since that time, the Center, along with other agencies involved with the protection of our children, have been working together to help victims of physical and sexual abuse get closure to these traumatic events and begin to heal from their immense hurt.