Support Funding of The Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County

The Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County was officially established as a nonprofit in the State of Kansas in 2008. Since it's establishment, the CACSC has not been offered the funds necessary to acquire a location to begin treating child abuse victims in a fully functional multidisciplinary setting.

The CACSC is founded on the belief that no single agency or professional alone can serve and treat child abuse - a multidisciplinary team response is necessary. Currently the child abuse victim in Sedgwick County must navigate an intimidating  and confusing system of multiple and repetitive interviews, at times being required to travel to four to five different locations to retell their story. With a functioning Child Advocacy Center,  the system could instead be brought to the child in a one-stop, therapeutic, non-threatening manner. The primary goal of the Child Advocacy Center is to ensure that children are not further victimized by intervention systems designed to protect them.

The purpose of the CACSC is to enhance services within the county by pulling the respective agencies together and housing the multidisciplinary team under one roof. The professionals represent prosecution, medical, therapeutic, law enforcement, social services and advocacy agencies.

We believe the advancement of the CACSC will bring the following benefits to child abuse victims in our community:

-more immediate and effective follow-up to child abuse reports

-more efficient medical and mental health referrals

-reduction in the trauma caused by multiple child interviews

-increased successful prosecutions

-consistent support for child abuse victims and their families

We, members of Sedgwick County, Kansas, request that our city and county community leaders provide funding for the advancement of the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County. We believe that the enhanced services of the CACSC will provide more immediate and effective care of the victims of child abuse and their families in our community.

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