Child Advocacy Center Moving to a New Location in Social Circle

In just over a month, the Child Advocacy Center will be moving to a new location in Social Circle. The center opened up initially at the Ministry Village in Loganville to provide services to child victims of physical or sexual abuse in Walton County. The center also serves victims from Newton County.

Amy Greenway with the CAC said that they are dealing with so many victims now that the center had no choice but to look for larger facilities.

"Due to the sheer numbers of alleged victims we are seeing we simply ran out of space in the current facility very quickly," Greenway said. "The average number of children we see each year has stabilized at just over 200 per year.  A larger facility will allow us to see them in a more timely manner and to eventually provide more services."

Greenway said they found the right building in Social Circle.

"We do not have a firm opening date yet. We purchased the building at the end of December and hope to complete minor modifications to the medical and interview rooms and be ready for operation by April 1," she said, adding she's not sure what will happen with the old facility at the Ministry Village when they move out, but she believes the Ministry Village will likely use it for expansion of their own services. She said the CAC will be providing the same services that it did at the the facility at the Ministry Village.

"We provide forensic interviews and exams of children where there have been allegations of physical or sexual abuse in a child friendly environment," Greenway said. "The medical exams are conducted by a licensed nurse practitioner in tandem with a doctor from Children's Health Care of Atlanta via a telemedicine link. The child is then interviewed by an interviewer that is specially trained to interview children and the interview is recorded so the child does not have to repeat their story over and over.  Our trained staff can also refer the family to counselors to help them through what is obviously a very difficult time for the entire family."
 
Greenway said the CAC is currently conducting a fundraiser raffle called "Give Child Abuse A Spring Break," (Flyer attached) The tickets are $10 each or 11 for $100. They are available at Legacy Bank in Loganville, the Loganville Police Department or at the Edward Jones office of Amy Greenway.