About
Restoring Lives, Together.
What Is a Child Advocacy Center?
Before CACs, child survivors of abuse were moved from agency to agency and endured multiple interviews in different settings, potentially causing further trauma. A child advocacy center (CAC) turns this model upside down by providing a single safe, child-friendly facility where child protection, criminal justice, and child treatment professionals work together to investigate abuse, hold offenders accountable, and help children heal. Once a referral is made through Child Protective Services and/or law enforcement, the CAC warmly welcomes the child and family to begin their path to healing.
About North Star Child Advocacy Center, Inc.
North Star CAC and our partners are the front-line responders in Wood, Wirt, Pleasants, Calhoun, and Ritchie to reports of child sexual abuse and children who have experienced violence. Since opening our doors in 2014, we have served more than 3,000 children.
North Star CAC coordinates the efforts of child protection staff, law enforcement professionals, family advocates, medical experts, and mental health clinicians under one roof. Our staff:
- facilitates our partners’ collaborative response
- arranges families’ visits to the center, including provision of support services, such as transportation
- conducts forensic interviews
- provides family advocacy and crisis intervention services
- provides mental health therapy
- ensures appropriate medical treatment
All of our services are aimed at reducing trauma so that children and families may begin the healing process. North Star Child Advocacy Center, Inc. services are free of charge to every client.
Our Team Sets Us Apart
North Star Child Advocacy Center, Inc.’s staff of experienced professionals is dedicated to helping children heal from abuse in Wood, Wirt, Pleasants, Calhoun, and Ritchie. We are equally supported by our Board of Directors — and volunteers who are committed to our mission and bring a variety of vital professional expertise and experience to the organization.
Meet Our Team
Mission Statement
The mission of North Star Child Advocacy Center is to provide our communities with a coordinated, multidisciplinary, and sensitive approach to child abuse through a child friendly center in which child abuse can be addressed. North Star CAC recognizes the need to reduce the trauma that children and families experience during the investigation process.
North Star CAC will be a good teammate to every person or agency that works on behalf of children and non-offending family members.
All children will be safe, families strengthened, victims healed, and offenders held accountable.