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PROGRAMS & SERVICES
The C.A.R.E. Center
 History
Over twenty years ago, the Waukesha County Childhood Sexual Abuse Task Force was formed to explore improved interventions that would reduce system trauma to child victims of sexual abuse. Innovations developed at that time included encouraging joint interviews between law enforcement and social service workers to reduce the number of times children had to repeat their stories, implementation of multidisciplinary team staffings to coordinate the investigation and treatment process, and the development of support groups for child victims and non-offending parents. At that time, the Task Force also recommended the development of a Child Advocacy Center to further the goal of a coordinated community response to child abuse by creating a one-stop center, which would be child-centered and child-friendly.
In 2002, a new taskforce was created to evaluate Waukesha County’s response to victims of child abuse and to recommend ways of improving the system to make reporting, investigating and prosecuting child abuse cases less traumatic for young victims. The taskforce identified the re-victimization of child abuse victims as a primary concern. Children who have been abused often find themselves re-telling and re-living their abuse over and over again as they talk to medical personnel, law enforcement officials, social workers, attorneys and judges. This leads to significant trauma for the child and becomes a barrier in the victim’s ability to move forward with the healing process. To address this critical issue, the taskforce recommended the creation of The C.A.R.E. Center to ensure that victims of child abuse in Waukesha County will receive services that are coordinated, safe, compassionate, child-friendly and timely.
Program Goal
The goal of The C.A.R.E. Center is that child abuse victims in Waukesha County will experience safe, compassionate child-focused services in a more highly coordinated and effective manner than was previously available.
Services
The C.A.R.E. Center is a multi-agency collaboration that will ensure that child victims of abuse in Waukesha County receive coordinated services that are safe, compassionate, professional, child-friendly, and timely. The collaborative partners include: Family Service of Waukesha, the Child Protection Center of Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, The Women's Center, Waukesha County Department of Health and Human Services, ProHealth Care, Children's Service Society of Wisconsin, the Waukesha County District Attorney's Office and local law enforcement. The services provided at The C.A.R.E. Center include:
Forensic Interviews: Forensic interviews are conducted in a manner which is of a neutral, fact finding nature, and coordinated to avoid duplicative interviewing. Training of Forensic interviewers will be done by Children’s Hospital. Forensic interviewers do not necessarily have to be employed by The C.A.R.E. Center, although they would have to demonstrate that they have received the Center’s approved training to perform interviews at the Center.
Medical Evaluation: Specialized medical evaluation and treatment will be available to CAC clients as part of the team response by a specially trained forensic pediatrician from Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.
Therapeutic Intervention: In-house, specialized mental health services will be available at The C.A.R.E. Center making our CAC the only one of it's kind in Wisconsin. Children's Place, a counseling center for traumatized children, will be located upstairs and the team of highly specialized therapists will be available to meet the psychological needs of the child and their family.
Victim Support/Advocacy: Victim support and advocacy will be available as part of the team response at The C.A.R.E. Center through coordination with the Women's Center. The Women's Center will provide a part-time family advocate who will be on-site to meet the needs of the child and their family.
Referral Sources
Primarily, referrals to The C.A.R.E. Center will come from the Waukesha Department of Health and Human Services, local law enforcement, and the medical community.
Staff
Faith Holley-Beal, Director
Angela Carron MD, Forensic Pediatrician
Sarah Bertram, Forensic Interviewer
Zoe Lecher, C.A.R.E Coordinator
Judy Boland, Administrative Assistant
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