The Children’s Advocacy Center is moving to a new, bigger two-story home on East Boulevard because it has outgrown the little house on France at Royal in Beauregard Town where it moved seven years ago.

When a child has been sexually abused the Children’s Advocacy Center brings together law enforcement, criminal justice and social service professionals to work together. Prior to the nationwide thrust to establish Children’s Advocacy Centers throughout the country, the people from these three disciplines approached the incidence of child sexual abuse from their perspective only, not realizing the negative effect each, working alone, could have on the victim.   They also did not understand the positive long-term results working together can have.

Working together as a team has helped the abused children heal from the trauma they have experienced. It has also produced more credible witness testimony which has led to a greater number of convicted child abusers.

Working Together

Kay Hessick, the executive director, and Sue Bernie, a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office played a critical role in getting “all the players together.” They talk about how far the Children’s Advocacy Center has come in the past ten years, bringing in everyone involved when a child has been abused.

Those in law enforcement, criminal justice and social service who are assigned to the child abuse cases support the work of the Children’s Advocacy Center.

A key to the prosecution of a child abuser is to get the victim to talk about what happened as soon as possible after the abuse is reported, Hessick explained. This means having a place where the child and the child’s parent or guardian can go to be interviewed by the members of law enforcement, criminal justice and social service.

To have the abused child questioned by many different people becomes problematic, says Hessick who is retried from a career at the state Office of Child Social Services. Retelling the events can be very difficult for the child psychologically.   It has been known to lead the child to alter the story because of the different manner in which questions are asked and in an effort to please the questioner.

The room where the child victims are currently interviewed at the Children’s Advocacy Center does not provide the necessary space for privacy if anyone else is at the center. Interviews must be scheduled at times when it is least likely that someone who is not directly involved with the interview is present.

New Home

The new home was purchased with money raised over the years through events such as the Celebrity Waiter Fundraiser, which was held in July at Walk-Ons.

As soon as the CAC receives a CDBG grant it has applied for, the final renovations can be done and the new home can be fully occupied, said Hessick. The grant will be used to upgrade the building to comply with current building codes including a large parking lot.

The CAC needs the bigger space because of the number of people involved every time an abused child walks in to the CAC for the first time – law enforcement, criminal justice, child protective services, and medical and mental health workers. Representatives from these many agencies comprise the Multi-Disciplinary Team, said Hessick.   

CAC tries to make the investigation as least traumatic as possible, said Kay Hessick.

Children’s Advocacy Centers provide counseling for child abuse victims and their families. The new house will have space for these sessions without compromising the privacy of families that are coming to meet with the Multi-disciplinary team.

The Children’s Advocacy Center will move into their new home by the end of 2009.

The Children’s Advocacy Center provides a safe place for children who have been victimized by severe physical or sexual abuse.   It is where they are interviewed by a trained forensic interviewer.   For more information, please call 343-1984.

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