preview

Mountain Child Advocacy Center (CAC)

Decent Essays
One year ago, Dr. Cindy Brown, Medical Director of the Mission Child Safety Team, and Todd Williams, Buncombe County’s District Attorney penned an editorial for Child Abuse Prevention month which occurs in April. In that article it discussed the need for a Child Advocacy Center because of its impact on how child abuse and neglect cases could be systemically addressed through a coordinated community effort. A year has passed and thanks to the efforts of leaders in our community, the Mountain Child Advocacy Center (CAC) was implemented to directly help children recovering from abuse. The CAC not only provides services like therapy, advocacy, and prevention; it also provides a systemic change that expedites the identification, response and delivery of services for children and families. And while the development of the CAC will surely impact the way we respond to child abuse and neglect once it is identified, the bigger task will still be how do we prevent child abuse and neglect by getting at its root causes. We know a lot about risk factors for child abuse such as the lack of support and social isolation of parents, financial stress, lack of parenting skills, drug and alcohol problems, and low self-esteem and high expectations of parents. This is not to say that a child is being abused if these…show more content…
There are still many layers of trauma that cover the systems that protect and care for us, our neighborhoods, and our families that need to be peeled away. But here is the hopeful part. If I lived in another county I might continue to sit and scratch my head and wonder how is my community going to stop child abuse. Well, I live in Buncombe County. A place where, within a year of discussing it, opened a Child Advocacy Center. A place where, in July, a Family Justice Center will open. A place where hope has a
Get Access