History of Blount County Children's Advocacy Center

The Children's Advocacy Center formed as a result of the 1985 Tennessee Sexual Abuse Law. This law mandated that the district attorney, the Department of Children's Services, law enforcement, medical personnel, and mental health professionals (hereafter called the "Team") work together as a group in the intervention, investigation, and prosecution of child abuse cases and to provide mental health counseling to assist the child victim in overcoming the trauma of the abuse.

The Blount County Children's Advocacy Center Task Force, comprised of local professionals and community volunteers, recognized that children were often re-traumatized by the very system designated to help them. The Task Force, established in 2000, set out to create a child-friendly, home-like setting based on the national model of Children's Advocacy Centers located in Huntsville, Alabama. Like the national model, our Center is a private not-for-profit agency that facilitates the teamwork essential for effective intervention and healing.

Involved in that initial Task Force were:
Beckie Timmons
Margaret Ivens
Hope Ingram
Donna Alexander
Judy Humphrey
Bobbie Beckmann
Bill Reed
Linda Pucci
Allen Bray
Jules McCord
Kay Everett
Beverly Collins

IF THE CAC DID NOT EXIST, WOULD SOMEONE INVENT IT?

Before the Center was formed, child abuse victims were often re-victimized by the very system designed to protect them. Children were re-traumatized when they were interviewed multiple times by several different adults. Interviews would take place at the police station, emergency room, professional offices, and even at the very location where the abuse occurred, all of which could be very scary places to a frightened child. Consequently, children would often recant their story or refuse to cooperate which would stifle the investigation.

Through the establishment of the BCCAC, the Team response to allegations and the mission of the center will be met. Through the interviewing, counseling, and medical services provided, along with the increased team collaboration and response in working child abuse cases, there will be an increase in the number of child abuse cases that are successfully prosecuted. This is largely due to the fact that when the team works together, the child victim is not interviewed multiple times, case management is effective in helping access services to meet the child's needs, and the disposition of the case is swifter. Since these services will be provided at a single, child-friendly location, the child is generally more cooperative because he or she simply feels safer.

The Center's impact on the children served and community as a whole can be unlimited. Primary prevention education activities will reveal cases of attempted abuse that were stopped because a child had the knowledge and skills to protect him/herself and ask for help. Children who have been abused or are being abused will be provided a safe place to talk about their "secret" and be protected from further harm. Studies have revealed that without intervention, the abuse of the child will continue.

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