Randolph Tucker CAC see approximately 150 Children in Randolph and Tucker Counties each year. Today, West Virginia Child Advocacy Network (WVCAN) releases its State Aggregate Data for the 2017 fiscal year. The data in the report reflects service from West Virginia’s 21 Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) who provided official service to 40 of 55 counties in the state and courtesy services to other counties.
This past fiscal year CACs served 3,914 children – a 66% increase in the last five years.
One of every 100 children in WVCAN’s service area were seen by a child advocacy center last year. Over 34% of the children served by RTCAC were under the age of 6, and 43 % of children were reported or suspected to have a disability. Most children served by Randolph Tucker CAC were there for allegations of sexual abuse – 76%.
56% of children receiving a forensic interview at RTCAC disclosed abuse. However, when a child does not disclose, the Multi-disciplinary Investigative Team may still have good cause to investigate the reports that prompted the child’s services at the CAC. Victim Advocates are available to help all families that walk though the CAC doors during these tough times.
Caregivers were surveyed after receiving services and 99% agreed “If I knew anyone else who was dealing with a situation like the one my family faced, I would tell that person about the center.” Executive Director, Margot Evick, states “I don’t feel there is necessarily more abuse going on in our area this year than before. I believe the community is becoming aware of the CAC and they know it’s a safe place to come and talk and begin to heal.”
The full statewide report includes data on victim demographics, alleged offender demographics, reported vs. disclosed abuse breakdown, services performed, criminal justice response, and CAC income budget breakdown. The full statewide data report can be found at http://wvcan.org/media/. Randolph Tucker CAC works with community partners to support healing and justice for children and their families who are victims of abuse.
