Creating a Child Advocacy Center
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
illustration by Clement Hurd from The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown
The following announcement was released by the Office of the Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney thanks to Prosecutor Chris Gaal and his team:
Briefing for Community Leaders
Creating a Child Advocacy Center
Thursday, August 19, Noon
Conference Room, Office of the Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney
301 North College Ave., Room 211
Bloomington, IN 47404
Dear Community Leader,
You are invited to a briefing for community leaders to learn about the creation of a Child Advocacy Center (CAC) to better serve the needs of children and families in Monroe and surrounding counties.
The Child Advocacy Center (CAC) will be an extremely important new resource that will enhance our community’s ability to investigate and respond to allegations of crimes involving child victims and child witnesses to violent crimes. The CAC will use a team approach, coordinating various agencies including the Department of Child Services (DCS), local law enforcement, the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, and other key organizations. A forensic interviewer with specialized training in working with children will conduct interviews in a safe, neutral and child-friendly environment using sophisticated video recording technology. The CAC will follow a protocol using best practices designed to minimize multiple interviews and the possibility of further traumatization of the child. Other team members will be present on-site and contribute to a collaborative process aimed at producing the most reliable and credible information that can be used in the decision-making process in response to such allegations.
The Child Advocacy Center concept has been widely adopted throughout the country, and indeed throughout much of the State of Indiana. A steering committee with representatives from the key stakeholders has been working to develop this important new resource locally. We have been working closely with Emily Perry, the Executive Director of Susie’s Place in Hendricks County. Our goal is to partner with Susie’s Place to develop a Child Advocacy Center in Bloomington to meet the unique and complex needs of alleged child victims of crimes and child witnesses to violent crimes.
Please attend an informational briefing at the Prosecutor’s Office to hear Emily Perry explain the CAC concept, and to learn more about our goals for the creation of a CAC to serve our community. The meeting will be on August 19 at 12 noon in the conference room of the Prosecutor’s Office. Sandwiches will be provided. Please attend to learn more about this extremely important new resource to better serve the needs of child victims of sexual abuse in our community.
Thank you,
Chris Gaal
————————————————————————-
Once this is in place, we will all wonder how it came to pass that our community waited for so long, too long, for such a needed, essential public service. Kudos to Prosecutor Gaal for progressive and caring attention to community-centered programming. And many thanks for his willingness to face very tough challenges towards greater understanding of justice issues.