Guest Editorial...

April marks a time of new beginnings, so it is appropriate that we take a moment to reflect on Texas’ future and how to renew young lives during Child Abuse Prevention Month. There is no greater cause than ensuring our children grow into healthy, strong, successful adults.

At the Office of the Attorney General, we regularly work with the Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) of Texasto protect child abuse victims. CACslike the Children's Advocacy Center of Laredo - Webb County in Laredo work every day toanswer cries for help from kids who have been abused or neglected. The centers tackle their difficult task by partnering with law enforcement, child protective services, prosecutors, medical professionals, mental health experts and victims’ advocates.

At each of the 61 CACs across Texas, these critically important professionals work together at a single location. As a result, when physically or psychologically abused children enter a CAC, they get all the help they need under one roof. CACs are equipped to conduct forensic interviews, facilitate coordinated investigations, provide medical and mental health treatment, and offer victim advocacy to child victims.

Equally important, CACs provide child-friendly facilities where kids can tell their painful story just one time. The people who need to know – law enforcement officials, child protection officers, medical professionals, and prosecutors, among others – get vitally important information during a single discussion with a young victim. This saves children the pain of re-living the trauma they experienced at the hands of their abuser.

Last year, alone, CACs served more than 37,000 Texas children. And to ensure CACs have the resources they need to continue their good work, we provided $4 million in grant funding to CACs all across Texas. The young Texans who were helped by a Children’s Advocacy Center last year are living testimonies to the hope and healing these centers provide.

Not long ago, a 12-year-old sexual abuse victim wrote the CAC that served him to explain how much their help meant.

“The very first time I came here it was because of something really bad that happened to me,” the child wrote. “My stepdad had done bad things to me and told me not to tell anyone. He said no one would ever believe me anyway.”

But the people at the CAC did believe.

The young victim continued: “A policeman was here and another person who said her job was to protect kids like me. … The lady who interviewed me was really nice and seemed like she understood why I didn’t want to talk about it. Knowing that police guy was there made me feel brave enough to tell it, though. I don’t know if I could have, except for him.”

The child concluded: “Can you please tell him, and all the other people here who are helping me, thank you for giving me my courage?”

The caring folks who serve Texas CACs band together every day to give children courage, to heed the littlest victims’ cries for help. And thanks to these centers, many young victims are emerging from the cold darkness of abuse to the bright warmth of a better tomorrow.