COASTAL CHILDRENS ADVOCACY CENTER INC

Goal 1: To facilitate healing for all children who have been traumatized by abuse, neglect, or exposure to violence.

Goal 2: To effectively coordinate the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases so that children and families receive the justice they deserve.

Goal 1 Strategies:
- Provide families with resources, referrals, education, and support needed to successfully navigate the social service systems.
- Provide families with grocery and transportation assistance to ensure basic needs are met.
- Provide trauma-informed therapy and play therapy for children and adolescents.
- Provide psycho-education for non-offending family members to ensure they have the knowledge and skills needed to parent a child following an incident of abuse or neglect.
- Provide a safe, confidential location where children can tell their stories or abuse or neglect.


Goal 2 Strategies:
- Provide audio- and video-recorded forensic interviews conducted by trained child interviewers in a child-friendly setting.
- Ensure all recorded forensic interviews are provided to law enforcement and legal agencies in a timely manner.
- Provide families with the guidance and support needed to successfully navigate the criminal justice system.
- Provide expert witness testimony in court, as requested.
- Engage with a multi-disciplinary team of professionals to prevent, address, and end child abuse and neglect.

Before the Coastal Children’s Advocacy Center (CCAC) was founded in 1992, children who had been abused or neglected had to tell their traumatic stories repeatedly. Oftentimes, children told these stories to individuals who lacked the training needed to work with children, in places that were loud and stressful, such as busy police departments.

Local child-serving leaders knew that the reporting process was re-traumatizing children and reducing the chances that the child’s testimony could be used to convict their abusers. They also knew that the lack of coordinated care in the region left children and families to navigate difficult legal channels on their own. To ensure no child or family member had to suffer through a broken system again, these child-serving leaders and organizations banded together to create the Coastal Children’s Advocacy Center.

Today, CCAC still provides a healing space for children who have been abused, neglected, or have witnessed violence, and their non-offending family members. CCAC now offers forensic interviews by certified child interviewers, crisis intervention and emotional support, evidence-based counseling and therapy, case management, and assistance with navigating the criminal justice system. CCAC also provides supportive resources and referrals for services such as medical care, legal counsel, and Victims Compensation.

Our services are expertly provided by staff who have the knowledge, skills, and passion required to guide children and families through an extremely difficult time. All forensic interviewers are trained and certified in child forensic interview techniques through the Anna Crawford Children’s Center in Forsyth, Georgia. Additionally, our two therapists and Parent Support Specialist have extensive education and training in trauma-informed counseling and psycho-education for both children and adults.

Perhaps most importantly, CCAC has nearly three decades of experience protecting the safety and confidentiality of the children and families we serve. To this end, our physical address is unpublished and there are no identifying signs on the outside of the building. The center is located within a home in a residential setting to further protect child and family safety.

The Coastal Children’s Advocacy Center has provided evidence-based services for children who have been abused or neglected for more than three decades. During that time, we have conducted thousands of forensic interviews, provided counseling for children and family members, and offered comprehensive resources and referrals to families to ensure they are able to provide for their children’s safety and basic needs.

Over the next several years, CCAC will continue to provide evidence-based direct services for children who have been abused and neglected and will expand group therapy opportunities. We will also be working to expand our outreach and education activities so that we may more effectively prevent child abuse and neglect in the communities we serve. The goal of these activities will be to 1) increase awareness of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect and 2) increase the knowledge and skills necessary so that all community members can identify abuse or neglect and intervene appropriately. These activities will include updating our website, improving our social media presence, providing free community-based education, educating youth-serving professionals, and expanding participation in public events.