The Plan
The CCCAC is a 501(c)(3) organization and adheres to Chapter 39 of the Florida Statutes for Children’s Advocacy Centers. The CCCAC will be funded by corporate and community donations and government grants. The primary goal of all CACs is to ensure that children are not further victimized by the intervention systems designed to protect them.
Jessie’s Place will:
- Develop a comprehensive multidisciplinary, developmentally and culturally appropriate response to child abuse which is designed to meet the needs of children and their nonoffending family members in a specific community;
- Establish a neutral, child friendly facility where interviews and/or services for abused children can be provided;
- Prevent trauma to the child caused by multiple, duplicative contacts with different professionals;
- Provide needed mental health treatment and other services to children and their nonoffending family members;
- Maintain open communication, information sharing and case coordination among community professionals and agencies involved in child protection efforts so that case decision-making and policy development are enhanced;
- Coordinate and track investigative, child protection and treatment efforts so that cases do not “fall through the cracks”;
- Hold more offenders accountable through improved prosecution of child abuse cases;
- Enhance the professional skills necessary to effectively respond to cases of child abuse through cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural training and support; and
- Enhance community awareness and understanding of child abuse.
The services the CCCAC will provide include:
- Utilization of video and audio recording technology in warm, comfortable and state of the art medical examination rooms;
- Medical diagnosis, evaluation and nursing assessment provided by the University of Florida Child Protection Team, experts in their field;
- Crisis intervention counseling to help child victims overcome physical and emotional damage;
- Therapeutic services and victim advocacy for children and non-offending caregivers; and
- Referrals to partner agencies for long-term counseling needs for children and nonoffending family members.
“We are at a critical juncture in protection our children. We must raise the funds to build Jessie’s Place in order to be proactive in protection our children.”
Jeff Dawsy, Sheriff of Citrus County
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One Mission, under one roof… working together with our community to protect, serve, and advocate for children.