The mission of the
Child Advocacy Center (CAC) is to be the Mobile community response
to the problem of child abuse. Abused children are interviewed
here by a specialized, trained team of professionals. Children
and their non-offending family members are referred for counseling
and prepared for the criminal justice process. Also provided
are educational and training programs in child abuse awareness and
prevention. Our goal is to
provide a wide range of services in one central location to sexually
abused and/or severely physically abused children and their
non-offending family members so that they may begin their healing
process, and to provide education and training in order to increase
the public awareness of child abuse which will aid in the prevention
of child abuse.
In the
friendly, comfortable environment of the Child Advocacy Center,
there are 28 professionals from 7 different agencies working
together as a team so that these young victims of crime can come to
one central location and receive all of the help and services they
might need. Law enforcement officers from the Mobile Police
Department, Prichard Police Department, and the Mobile County
Sheriff’s Office work together with child abuse investigators from
the Department of Human Resources to investigate reports of child
abuse. They conduct joint interviews with victims, family members,
and witnesses in the field as well as in specially designed rooms
for different aged children here at the CAC. A Forensic Medical
Doctor conducts examinations at the University of South Alabama’s
Children’s Medical Center Outpatient Clinic to secure evidence. The
Assistant District Attorney, Trial Coordinator, and Victim Witness
Advocates provide the victim and families with court preparation and
prosecution services. Therapists and a Family Advocate work at the
CAC to provide extended assessments, individual, group and family
counseling as well as a mothers’ support group and a wide range of
services for families.
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