The Walker County Children’s Advocacy Center provides aid for children who have been victims of abuse and neglect.
Rachel Karr, who works as a community educator for the Center, says the organization is meeting a need for families in the community and in Alabama as a whole.
“Think about having to relive the worst thing that’s ever happened to you over and over again, telling doctors, DHR, a therapist, a prosecutor…” Karr said.
The advocacy center makes this process easier for children by limiting the number of times they’re asked to testify. Under the Center’s protocol, children speak to a specially trained victim advocate.
“The children aren’t questioned by police; police are trained to question suspects, not children,” Karr said. The Center’s victim advocates, or interviewers, on the other hand, are trained specifically to talk to children. Karr described the advocates and the facilities as being designed to comfort children.
“The room is set up so that it looks like a living room—couches, a bean bag chair. It’s meant to be very homey. It doesn’t feel like a doctor’s office. Our interviewers go through a lot of training to be able to talk to kids, and dress more like elementary teachers than lawyers.”
Kids are brought into the Center by a non-offending caregiver and are spoken to by an interviewer. The caregiver is talked to by a family advocate separately. The children are provided with fidget toys and coloring books to put them more at ease.
The interviews are recorded, so that the children are not asked to tell their story multiple times. For children under twelve, the interviews can possibly take the place of testifying in court.
Karr says the Center provides for families in other ways too. “We keep families informed and check in with them—sometimes we work with community partners to provide other things, like childcare,” she said. “We also try to get children in the courtroom ahead of time, if possible, so they can be more at ease if asked to testify in court.”
The WCCAC is a nonprofit; neither law enforcement nor families will be charged for services the Center provides. The Center is grant- and donation-funded, and has been for its ten years of operation.
“We want to serve kids as long as there’s a need,” Karr said.
April is Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month. On March 31, the Center placed 1,400 blue pinwheels on the lawn, representing each child the Center has helped. The pinwheels will remain visible for the entire month of April.
