Apr. 7—It’s an ongoing battle against an epidemic of terror across the country, Children’s Advocacy Center of Johnson County Executive Director Tammy King said.

“One out of every four girls and one out of every six boys experience sexual abuse before the age of 18,” King said.

Battling that requires hard work, dedication and most of all team work, King said.

“A group of concerned community members who saw what was happening with our child victims worked together to put the articles of incorporation in for the advocacy center in 1996,” King said. “Our community rallied and, in February 1998 we were able to open our doors to our first child victim in Johnson County.”

Advocacy centers, legislatively created entities, are unique in their teamwork approach, King said.

“Because you had law enforcement, child protective services and prosecution not always working together before then,” King said. “Sometimes CPS workers would unknowingly damage law enforcement’s portion of the case or law enforcement would damage CPS’s. So, by the time the case got filed with the prosecutor, if it got filed. it was often so damaged that it could not be effectively prosecuted.”

Advocacy centers coordinate with the different agencies and individuals involved in crimes against children cases to ensure everyone is up to speed and on the same page. Advocacy center workers and volunteers also work to assist and accompany victimized children through their journeys toward healing.

“The cases that come through the advocacy center are felony level abuse cases,” King said. “It’s sexual abuse, severe physical abuse, child witnesses to homicide and violent crime and, within the child sexual abuse category, crimes involving pornography and child sexual trafficking.

“About 70% of the cases we see are sexual abuse while the other 30% are serious physical abuse or medical neglect cases.”

King discussed the center’s work during Thursday’s luncheon of the Cleburne Rotary Club.

The Johnson County CAC works with investigators and officials from the district attorney and county attorney’s offices, officials from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office as well as all law enforcement agencies within the county including school district police departments.

“We work also with juvenile services and, for children’s medical exams, the CARE Team at Cook Children’s Medical Center, they’re a group who specializes in child abuse exams.”

The CAC works with 24 area agencies and often meets with representatives from each to evaluate and work on ways to improve services to child victims.

“The advocacy staff, we’re not investigators,” King said. “We are the people who provide forensic interviews, do the intake paperwork, the personal advocacy. We do trauma assessment, crisis intervention, ongoing therapy and special programs to encourage our kids and communicate to them that they can do anything they want.

“We have investigative partners who actively work the cases. We don’t do that.”

The center, among other services, offers individual, family and group therapy to victims with all services being free of charge.

Several highly-trained therapists specializing in various areas of child victim trauma work at the advocacy center.

“We — there are 70 advocacy centers throughout the state — lead the state of Texas in the number of trauma-informed therapists in the organization across the state,” King said.

Offering great help and healing also are the center’s four-legged therapists, King added.

“Typically we have about four dogs running all over the building everyday,” King said. “The therapy dogs and K-9 advocates are definitely the rock stars of the CAC.”

Tough work, but also rewarding, King said.

“All the time we get asked, ‘That’s got to be the most depressing place in the world to work. How do you do that?” King said. “And yes, it’s pretty much the worst of the worst situations for the kids we serve and what they go through.”

It’s also entails, King said, the joy and opportunity to help victimized children.

“They come to the center because horrific things have happened in their lives,” King said. “But once they enter the door we’re changing the direction of what happens in their lives. There is so much love being forwarded to those kids when they hit the door. Everybody is invested in making sure those kids understand their value, which a lot of times isn’t something they’ve heard from anybody in their lives.”

King spoke of the center’s warm and inviting child-friendly atmosphere and the difficult but necessary work required convince child victims of their value and worth especially those who have undergone grooming, threats and other sexual or physical trauma.

CAC Program Director Joe Perrin spoke of school educational efforts made possible by a grant received.

“We were able to hire someone to do educational prevention in Johnson County schools,” Perrin said. “It’s not the normal 45 minute assembly with 400 kids in a gym. He goes into the classrooms to talk about safety rules and tell kids what they need to do if they see or experience something.”

CAC workers interview 20 victims last week and 52 in March, Perrin said.

“We want to do everything we can to prevent as much of that as we can and give our kids a chance,” Perrin said. “There are just so many opportunities for bad things to happen when you’re talking about the internet, cell phones and all the crazy things we’re facing. We’re trying to get kids to stop, think and give them the tools to be able to adjust and address those things when they come up.”

Another grant received, Soaring to New Heights, allows CAC workers to help child victims experience the fine arts. Through trips to Casa Manana, AT&T Performing Arts Center and other destinations.

“Fun events that just allow them to be kids,” Perrin said. “And that’s like when Tammy said people ask how we deal with this and and do this, that’s how, when we get to see them having fun, being kids and doing what God called them to do.”

Volunteers and donations — donations and fundraiser proceeds fund the center — are needed always, King added.

It’s crucial, King said, that CAC workers, volunteers and partnering agency officials continue to do everything possible to battle child abuse and victimization.

“Because, when they come through the door of the advocacy center, something bad has already happened to them,” King said. “Their childhood has already been harshly interrupted. We’re here to try to get that back for them.”