Children's Advocacy Center of Greater West Texas

Children's Advocacy Center of Greater West Texas, inc. (cac) was established in tom green county in 1991. Concerned community members wanted an Advocacy Center as a way to reduce re-traumatization of children by using a coordinated child-centered approach to child abuse investigations. In 1992 cac started their first program hope house, a safe place for children and families to visit after an outcry of abuse. This program provides free services to victims of child abuse and neglect and their non-offending family members, including forensic interviews, case coordination, therapy and other services to strengthen the families' ability to provide a safe, nurturing home for their children. At hope house, child and non-offending family well-being, healing, safety and protection are foremost. The goal of a forensic interview is to minimize the number of times a child must tell their story and collect vital information in a neutral, non-leading way to be utilized during a child abuse investigation. Hope house staff coordinates and reviews each child's case with the multidisciplinary team (mdt) to determine if there is enough evidence to pursue prosecution against the alleged perpetrator. The multidisciplinary team includes: hope house staff, local, state, and federal law enforcement,medical personnel,child protective investigations (cpi), district attorneys, and therapists. In 2015, legislative changes allowed cacs to implement the multidisciplinary enhancement project. This change allowed cac, as a third-party, to review child abuse hotline reports, assess which cases met criteria for forensic interviews and services, coordinate appropriate services, and review cases with the multidisciplinary team. Since implementing this change, hope house has significantly grown to meet the increased number of child abuse cases in our community. Hope house is presently in its own facility, allowing for colocation of hope house staff, law enforcement, cps investigators and special investigators, and homeland security. The hope house services are critical for the investigation, criminal prosecution, justice, and healing for the child and family

Family enrichment services (fes)- the fes program offers a whole family approach to strengthening the family by providing services aimed at keeping children in the home and families together. Fes provides services to build stronger families through our free programs: parents as teachers and parent mentor program. Parents as teachers is a home visitation program that addresses child development and encourages positive parent-child relationships for children from prenatal to five years of age. The program screens for developmental delays and health issues and referrs families to community services. Parent mentor program is a referral program for families involved with the juvenile justice system to provide parenting tips or guidance. This program provides parent education, resource coordination, and case management to help parents meet the needs of children and prevent child maltreatment. Case managers meet with families weekly and create a tailored plan to identify and build upon strengths.

Court appointed special advocates (casa)- the casa program is designed to provide trained volunteers to act as court-appointed special advocates in the child welfare and juvenile justice system. Each casa's role is to investigate evaluate, and recommend to the court, what is truly in the best interest of the child. Casa's speak for the best interest of children who have been abused or neglected and whose home will be determined by a court of law. Casa volunteers provide stability, love, and guidance for the children they serve.