Thursday, Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott visited San Angelo to tour the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) of Tom Green County.

courtesyCACTGC
courtesyCACTGC
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The CAC of Tom Green County is one of 70 CACs in Texas providing critical services to child
victims of abuse. Texas CACs serve 194 counties, which collectively provide services to over 43,000 children a year.
CACs, like the CAC of Tom Green County, are improving Texas’ response to child abuse through a true public-private partnership. CACs provide a victim-centered, multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach to the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases, providing specialized forensic interviews, therapeutic recovery services, medical evaluation, and case management.

Thanks to significant investment in this process by Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Legislature, CACTX coordinates the efforts of law enforcement, Child Protective Services (CPS), prosecutors, medical providers, and therapists to right serious wrongs and provide critical healing services to children and families in Texas.

The Criminal Justice Division of the Office of the Governor has made substantial financial investments (through Texas’ Victims of Crime Act Funding) in our network of CACs to ensure a child-friendly, coordinated approach to joint investigations in child abuse cases. Our state has done an amazing job recognizing that we can build better cases, keep children safe, and make sure children are not revictimized throughout the investigations process by way of this coordinated approach. The support from our state and federal government and private sector has been instrumental in ensuring that Texas’ CAC network is a national leader. Due to the investment in the CAC model, in state fiscal year 2016, CACs statewide increased the number of  children served in by 15%.
 

On behalf of the network of CACs in Texas, we are encouraged that Governor Abbott has elevated child welfare as a top priority for Texas. Thank you to First Lady Cecilia Abbott. By being with the San Angelo community today, she is bringing awareness to child abuse as we strive for
the best and necessary services for our most vulnerable citizens.
 

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