CACTX - Child advocacy center shows off new facilities

CLEBURNE - The Johnson County Child Advocacy Center, 910 N. Granbury, held an open house and meet and greet at its new facilities Thursday.

The center, which started out in a small space in downtown Cleburne in 1997, purchased the property on Granbury and moved into it in May 2009.

According to a letter by CAC board president Amber Witte, the agency provides a child-friendly that makes children feel safe and welcomed. The center provides a multi-disciplinary team approach to all investigations of severe abuse including sexual abuse, severe physical abuse, drug endangered children and child witnesses to homicide and other violent crimes.

Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford, who serves on the CAC executive committee and is a founding board member, praises the organization.

"The children's advocacy center has proven to be an invaluable asset to our children who are victims of sexual, physical and mental abuse as well as a major element in the successful prosecution of child predators,” the sheriff said. ‽There was a time when children were afraid to testify because the perpetrator would tell them that he would kill their dog or something like that to get them not to talk. But with a whole team of advocates representing several agencies in a safe environment, that is no longer an issue. There's two things people can't get away with in Johnson County - they can run drugs and they can't mess with our children.”

The CAC provides therapy dogs, which are used to decrease anxiety in stressful situations. Alford noted that the dogs are even allowed into the courtroom during proceedings on behalf of child victims. Drew Stallings, program director for the CAC, praised the corps of certified therapy dogs available to the center to accompany the children during forensic interviews. All types of dogs, including box ers, lab mixes and shih tzus, have been certified by the state to be used with the children and also greet visitors at the door of the center.

"We have served children that were victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, witnesses to a crime and we've had some shaken-baby cases,” said Tammy King, executive director of the Johnson County Child Advocacy Center, noting two children were presently hospitalized locally suffering from injuries from having been shaken.

King also explained the value of the playground of the center and how counselors incorporate it into their work with the children.

"It seems that our counselors like to get in the swings with the children and swing with them while talking to them,” King said.

The center not only provides immediate crisis intervention, but the service is ongoing. It offers family and group counseling, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing for children with post-traumatic stress disorder and play therapy for youngest victims. It also offers intervention, individual, family and group counseling; parenting classes and support groups; youth self-esteem, goal-setting activities and classes and youth mentorship; and assistance with employment, education, Medicaid, housing and relocation and other immediate physical needs.

The center will hold its annual western-style rodeo fundraiser, the 13th annual Cowboys for Kids Benefit, the weekend of April 23-24.

Included among the activities are a Roping the Stars Dinner with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 23, at the Henry Colleen Arena. A Children's Stick Horse Rodeo will be 11 a.m. Saturday, April 24, at the Tom Frank Jones Arena at the Sheriff's Posse Grounds in Cleburne. Beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 24, the PBR Enterprise Tour, Celebrity Team Roping and Wild Steer Saddling will be held, with gates opening at 7 p.m. and the first bull bucked at 8, also at the Sheriff's Posse Grounds in Cleburne.

Sponsors for the Johnson County Child Advocacy Center include Chesapeake Energy, Cleburne Ford, Halliburton, Harper Cattle L.L.C. of Venus, Texas, Devon, Mustang Foundation, Bennett Building Systems of Burleson, Bob King Coldwell Banker Realty, First Financial Bank, First National Bank of Burleson, Justin Boots, Marti Foundation, KD Land Company and Liberty Hotel. Special sponsors include Bobby Norris Farm and Ranch Realty, and Five Star Correctional Services.

Rodeo personalities and other celebrities that will be on hand will be Michael Martin Murphey, Sonny Burgess, Roy Cooper, Barry Corbin, Dean Smith, Robert Fuller, Red Steagall, Buck Taylor, Susie McEntire Luchsinger, Charlie Throckmorton and Larry Mahan.

For further information and tickets, call the Johnson County Child Advocacy Center at 817-558-1599. Visit the Web site at www.childadvocacycenter-jc.org.

http://www.alvaradopost.com/articles/2010/04/09/community/doc4bbf949e39a55893518869.txt