When you work in the field of child abuse and neglect, people often say “I don’t know how you do what you do.” However, the question isn’t ‘how’ – they key is to know your ‘why.’ When you understand that children need places like Voices of Courage and you believe in the cause, the ‘how’ comes naturally.
This past year has been one of growth and change at the CAC. New name, new staff, expanded spaces, and more clients being served than ever before. It’s been hard work but very rewarding. It’s our ‘why.’
What’s new? We added another forensic interviewer (we now have 2), another counselor (we now have 4), a full-time family advocate and a part-time advocate to our staff. To accommodate that, we have added four new offices, a conference room, and an expanded lobby. We have also added a victim family room, which has been named the Dwight K. Scroggins, Jr. Victim Family Room, to honor the contributions made to our CAC on behalf of child victims by our retiring Buchanan County Prosecutor since we opened our doors in 1992.
So what does this all mean? We are building something here. This expansion is a foundation built to accommodate the growing needs of the children in our area. Now that we can better keep up with the workload, we can start to raise our heads up enough to be able to look down the road a ways. We want to take a good hard look at how the CAC can best serve children, of course. But we also want to know how we can make positive changes in our community with regard to child abuse and neglect. What is our role, how can we lead, and very specifically, what can we do to make kids’ lives better, safer and healthier.
For us, it starts with education. We need both the adults and the children in our communities to understand what child abuse is, how prevalent it truly is, and what they can do to help prevent it. We do not believe that children are responsible for their own safety, however we do know that it is best for them to be armed with knowledge about how to protect themselves.
We see ourselves as leaders in this education process. We are putting together multiple programs to be implemented in 2019 to share with all of the communities we serve. This includes school children, parents, adults who work with children, and professionals in the community who want to learn what they can do to help.
For a brighter future, St. Joseph and the surrounding counties need to be communities where adults stand up for kids. Where we all freely admit that children are OUR responsibility as the adults around them. Where children can live and thrive in safe environments. But when their environment isn’t safe, they need to know what to do and where to look for help. Finally, we need our children who are in need of help to be listened to and believed.
Our team is now in place to make all of this happen. We have the knowledge, we have the training. The children need us and we are here to help.
