Give Your All: A Christmas Care-All for Houston’s Future
Sexual abuse is a difficult topic to discuss — for both coping families and the general public. So often, the stories and the statistics that could make a difference in preventing abuse never make it into our everyday conversations. That’s why we’ve teamed up with The Children’s Assessment Center for our first-ever A Christmas Care-All: Past, Presents and Future — to bring awareness to a worthy Houston organization, donate gifts to children in need AND begin the much-needed conversation about awareness, prevention and support.
We have the opportunity to DO something to help The Children’s Assessment Center change the future for Houston’s sexually abused children.
Since 2000, more than 56,000 children in our community have walked through these doors to access The CAC’s professional, compassionate and coordinated care. As one of the largest sexual abuse advocacy centers in the nation, The CAC houses professionals from 45 partner agencies — law enforcement, medical staff, psychological/psychiatric services and governmental investigative entities — all working together with the common goal of protecting children.
Our children NEED this protection too because the statistics on child sexual abuse are staggering:
• One in four girls is sexually abused before the age of 18
• One in six boys is sexually abused before the age of 18
• The median age for reported abuse is 9 years old
• An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse live in America today.
Wait. Let’s reiterate that:
An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse live in America today.
Children all over our nation are sexually abused at an alarming rate — subjected to a heartache that they should never have had to experience. But if this occurs in Houston, they are able to turn to The CAC to advocate for them.
The CAC’s clinical social workers provide guidance to families and work with law enforcement, legal professionals and therapists to coordinate investigations and treatment.
Forensic interviewers conduct specialized, digitally recorded interviews and evaluations at The CAC to obtain information in a non-leading, non-threatening manner — eliminating the need for multiple, often traumatic, interviews.
An on-site medical team conducts the sexual assault and abuse exams, utilizing state-of-the-art and non-invasive equipment, to provide expert testimonies needed in court.
Finally, The CAC offers a variety of therapy and psychological services ranging from crisis intervention and psychological evaluations to group, family and individual therapy for child victims, their siblings and non-offending caregivers.
Besides reacting to the problem of sexual abuse, The CAC’s staff strongly believes that training is one of the key components for prevention. Since 1999, The CAC has trained nearly 3,500 responders to understand the signs of sexual abuse and help to prevent it.
The CAC’s extensive programs are astounding, and a testament to the Houston spirit of community and collaboration. This team is a true partnership between the public and private sectors to deliver the most effective services to children and their families. They deliver, with unparalleled expertise, compassion and dedication that is unwavering.
The future of our children depends on how we, as a community, respond to these vulnerable children in need. At A Christmas Care-All: Past, Presents and Future, our community of friends and partners are dedicating themselves to aiding this great organization. Your entry—toys and books—will go directly to children’s wish lists this year at an internal, yearly holiday event. Your monetary donations, from buying food to bidding at our auction, will go DIRECTLY to the children — The CAC is a department of Harris County and thus 100% of your monetary contributions are donated to these families. Your letters written at the event will go to The CAC’s internal staff members in appreciation of the heart-wrenching cases they must deal with each day. Your tweets, Instagram photos and Facebook posts will raise awareness of the issue of sexual abuse in our community, opening up a previously hidden narrative of Houston that needs YOUR voice.
With your help, The CAC will continue to provide the highest quality care and compassion to those who need it most. While talking about the issues is a start, it’s simply not enough. Sure, we can raise awareness all we want, but until we all get together and DO something, the statistics surrounding the number of sexually abused children will continue to rise.