Child Advocacy Center

Our Child Advocacy Center serves an important role in identifying and prosecuting child abuse, and helping young victims heal from their painful experiences.

Supporting Children in Need

We help children find their voice

Imagine you are 12 years old. Your coach has started touching you and tells you he will kill your little sister if you tell anyone.

Imagine you are 7 years old. Your mom's new boyfriend has started coming into your bedroom at night.

What do you do? Who do you tell?
How do you make it stop?

1 in 10 children are abused before their 18th birthday.

Unless a child shares their story, it's often impossible to make the abuse stop. Imagine you found the courage to tell someone and chose a trusted teacher at school. You're then interviewed by a police officer, then a social worker, followed by a doctor, a lawyer, a therapist - each time being taken to a police station, government office, hospital, lawyer's office. As difficult as it was to tell the story once, now you must relive and retell the painful traumatic details again and again.

This is why our Child Advocacy Center is a critical service!

The CAC connects these agencies and services together, in one safe environment to focus on assistance, support, and care.

What we do

A look at the services we provide

The Child Advocacy Center provides a centralized hub to connect children and families with care and support. Multiple agencies work together as part of a multidisciplinary team to simplify the process of care, treatment, and prosecution of alleged child abuse cases.

About Child Advocacy

The Child Advocacy Center is a safe, child friendly location for children to come speak with trained interviewers or one of our medical providers.

At the CAC, we work with a multidisciplinary team of professionals from law enforcement, child protective services, and the district attorney's office. When you come to the CAC, you will be able to meet with the professionals working on your child's case and ask them further questions.

Advocacy

Advocates for victims provide crisis intervention, education, support, follow-up, referrals, needs assessments, court preparation and accompaniment for children and their non-offending family members. The assigned Advocate acts as the liaison between law enforcement, social services, prosecutors, and mental health providers whenever necessary.

Counseling & Therapy

Licensed mental health providers and counselors are available to offer on-site counseling and therapy for children and their non-offending family members to help deal with the many feelings and emotions experienced after a disclosure of abuse.

Forensic Interviewing

On-site forensic interviews are conducted in a child-friendly, non-threatening environment. Specially trained child interviewers ensure a neutral, legally sound, fact finding interview process that will reduce the trauma and minimize the number of interviews a victimized child will have to endure.

Medical Examinations

Our program offers on-site medical exams when appropriate for victimized children. These exams are provided by a physician or nurse practitioner who has specialized training in the medical evaluation of child abuse cases.

Child Support Groups

Trauma therapists professionally trained in child abuse cases provide developmentally appropriate groups for child victims of abuse in a safe and friendly environment.

Caregiver Support Groups

Professionally trained group facilitators provide support for non-offending caregivers to provide education and information on a variety of topics including the dynamics of child sexual abuse, offender information, and prevention of future victimization.

Community Education

Presentations are available for education and outreach for the community for children and adults for recognition, response, and prevention of child abuse. These topics include child abuse prevention, child and infant safety, childhood trauma, program services and resources, and mandated reporter training.

Victim Claims Assistance

Our staff assists with claim application to the New York State Office of Victim Services for reimbursement to victims of crime and abuse.

Frequently Asked Questions

Learn more about abuse, trafficking and exploitation.

The first step in helping a child who is a victim of abuse, neglect, or child sex trafficking is to recognize the warning signs.

Find out more about what human trafficking is and the types of trafficking that exists in our communities.

About Human Trafficking

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Learn about the different types of abuse and the signs that may indicate a child is being, or at risk for abuse.

Types & Signs of Abuse

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Find out how perpetrators of child sexual abuse groom children to manipulate, exploit and abuse them.

About Grooming

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Learn ways to keep yourself safe from exploitation and other resources to combat human trafficking.

Safety Tips & Resources

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Get in touch

Catskill Location & 24hr Support Helpline

Call our REACH & Child Advocacy Center helpline anytime, 24 hours a day at 518.943.4482. Trained staff provide crisis counseling and support services.

Located at 455 Main St., Catskill, NY 12414

Call: 518.943.4482

Get Directions

Hudson Location

Our Child Advocacy Center in Hudson is available for Columbia County cases. Call 518.697.3320 for assistance. Please call our 24 hour helpline at 518.943.4482 if you need assistance after hours.

Located at 946 Columbia St., Hudson, NY 12534

Call: 518.697.3320

Get Directions

See Something, Say Something

Our REACH and CAC Centers for crime and abuse serve over 500 children, families, and adults each year. In the case of children, they can be too afraid, and sometimes too young, to speak up for themselves. They need help from others.