The Exchange Club of Springfield welcomed Carlisa Parker, Director of the Child Advocacy Center to its regularly scheduled Tuesday April 3, 2018, Noon Membership Meeting. Melissa Tuttle is pictured presenting the donation of $1,000 to the CAC from our Foundation. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The CAC so far this year has had 83 cases, 50% are which are sexual abuse, with 75% male offenders, 93% of offenders are known to the child and family. In 2017, there were 277 cases investigated by the CAC, so there is quite an increase this year. They have four forensic Interviewers and one victim advocate. The CAC has an onsite mental health expert and this year they have had 24 mental health interviews. The staff also has periodic opportunities for their own mental health sessions, as they too suffer from the horrific incidents of abuse that they investigate.
The CAC has reached out to the City School teachers in a recent training session. Carlisa was surprised to learn that only a handful of the teachers were even aware of the CAC or what the organization does.
The CAC staff will be attending additional training this August. The Director will be attending training for director level staff in August.