Services for Children / Parents

Counseling

Our goal in counseling is to reduce trauma to children and their families in cases of alleged sexual abuse and to empower each family member in order to decrease the risk of further abuse.

Therapy

CAC therapists are masters level social workers trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), the best practice when working with children who have been traumatized by sexual abuse. This evidence-based model focuses on enhancing the child’s coping skills and direct discussion and processing of the abuse experience. Therapeutic work with the child’s non-offending parent is an integral part of the child’s treatment.

Services for parents

Non-offending parents of children who attend counseling at the CAC are very involved in the child’s counseling. Therapists work with parents on improving the parent’s skills in coping with the trauma of a child’s sexual abuse and on assisting the parent in developing ways to support the child’s healing. Family Advocates provide education and support to non-offending parents so that they can fully support their children and ensure their safety. Parents learn to recognize signs and symptoms of sexual abuse, understand characteristics of perpetrators, and protect children from future abuse.

Services for abuse-reactive children and their parents
Abuse-reactive children are victims of sexual abuse who have acted out sexually towards other children. The CAC-developed protocol for treating abuse-reactive children between the ages of 3 and 8 includes identifying and managing feelings, increasing self-control, improving social skills, healthy touching, and safety planning. Therapists work closely with parents of abuse-reactive children, as it is crucial that parents of these children understand the nature of the problem and commit to supervising their children closely.

Forensic Interviews
Following a referral from law enforcement or child protective services, child interview specialists conduct forensic interviews of alleged victims of child sexual abuse to obtain accurate and reliable information to be used by the team in making child protection, criminal offense, therapeutic and intervention decisions.