Brief History of The CAC
In 1985 in Huntsville, Alabama the very first Child Advocacy Center was established. Before the CAC, a child was interviewed repeatedly by many professionals. With the CAC model all that has changed. Click here to learn more about the CAC Model
The amount of times the child must disclose the abuse is significantly decreased, sparing the child from re-traumatization.
Brief History of CFAC – the Rutland County CAC
During the mid 1990’s, the number of child sexual abuse reports greatly increased nationally. In 1995, a Rutland County multi-disciplinary task force convened to address the issue. The resulting team comprised of member of law enforcement, child welfare, children’s advocates, school personnel, medical, and the private mental health community. The task force determined that a Child Advocacy Center was the most comprehensive and effective solution.
Since 2004 the Child First Advocacy Center has been a fully accreditted member of the National Children’s Alliance (NCA) National Children’s Alliance (NCA). CFAC is also a member of the Vermont Children’s Alliance (VCA); the statewide chapter of child advocacy center’s. Together we share the passion to minimize the traumatic effect of child abuse upon the children and families of our community.
Legislation in Vermont was amended and adopted in 2009. The overall intent of the legislation was to provide all citizens of the state of Vermont access to Special Investigative Units to enhance prevention efforts, investigations and prosecutions of sexual abuse and improve supervision of sexual offenders.
The Special Investigation Units are designed to partner with child advocacy centers. The Rutland Unit for Special Investigations (RUSI) is co-located at the Rutland CFAC office.
Vermont Special Investigative Units are task forces dedicated to providing criminal investigations in response to reports of sexual assaults and serious child abuse. The professionals in the units are specially trained to deal with the unique and sensitive nature of the crimes. RUSI is the unit serving all of Rutland County. Three detectives are assigned to the Rutland Unit. Additionally, the Department for Children and Families has assigned a full-time investigator also located in the Rutland CFAC office. Click here to meet our team! These co-located services ensures a dramatic reduction in the number of victim interviews, increased successful prosecutions and consistent and compassionate support.