What is the Child Advocacy Center?
The Child Advocacy Center (CAC) in Gainesville provides a
child-friendly, safe and supportive environment for children who have experienced abuse and neglect. The CAC is a place where professionals – social workers, counselors, law enforcement officers, state attorneys, victim advocates, medical professionals and others – work as a team to coordinate investigations and interventions. This collaboration seeks to ensure that children are not re-victimized by the system and that they and their families are provided the support and services needed.
“There is no denying the value of the Center’s mission and the vast but often unseen contributions it makes to our community. What makes the CAC special, however, are the remarkable and selfless individuals who, together with our partners, have dedicated their lives to securing a brighter future for the children they serve.”
-Lem Purcell, Former Chairman, CAC Board of Directors
The Center has taken the lead in providing quality training for multidisciplinary team members and the child protection community, in addition to facilitating changes within the child welfare system to efficiently, compassionately, and comprehensively serve children who have been abused. The Center advocates for children in the dependency, civil and criminal court systems.
In November 2023, a Building Dedication was held at the Center's newest location to honor those who made the purchase of this location possible. A new name for the center was also unveiled!
The building was named after a very special supporter of the CAC, the late Bobbie Holden. Bobbie had a tremendous impact on the CAC and had a heart for helping children in need. We are honored to dedicate our newest location to Bobbie and proud to call the Center The Bobbie Holden Center for Child Advocacy.
“We have witnessed the Child Advocacy Center making a difference to reduce trauma to abused children by coordinating the efforts of core partner agencies to help expedite each child’s time in the system so that their healing can begin.”
-Rod and DeeDee Smith, Child Advocacy Center Founders
Our Founders
DeeDee and Rod Smith spent the better part of the last 40 years in public service. DeeDee, an attorney who specialized in Family Law and worked for the Guardian Ad Litem Program. Rod, also an attorney, came back from a trial in North Florida and had told DeeDee about the CAC Advocate for the children in the case in which he was working. After learning about the positive impact Child Advocacy Center's have, Rod and DeeDee decided a CAC was aboslutely necessary in Alachua County, Florida. They reached out to community leaders and began their journey of making it happen.
DeeDee served as the first Executive Director and served on the CAC Board of Directors. She volunteered in many roles to include the inaugural committee for our leading fundraiser, Gainesville Gone.
Rod was an advocate for children in North Central Florida as the State Attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit Court in the 1990's and also as the State Senator representing several counties in the early 2000's.
It's been 25 years and Rod and DeeDee continue to volunteer their time with the CAC!
CAC Timeline
The Need
Our Service Area
The Child Advocacy Center serves child victims aged 0 to 18 as well as their family and non-offending caregivers. Our focus is with children who have experienced abuse, neglect, human trafficking, and trauma. The Child Advocacy Center serves children and families primarily in Alachua County; however, the Center also accepts clients in need from neighboring counties. Alachua County has the 7th highest child abuse rate in the state of Florida with over 5,000 reported cases annually.
Our Impact
The Child Advocacy Center works to prevent further trauma to the child victim by:
- Coordinating a comprehensive, multidisciplinary response to child abuse investigations and interventions.
- Conducting forensic interviews, reducing the number of times a child is required to share details of traumatic experiences.
- Reducing the time each case remains in the legal system.
- Keeping communication open among professionals in the agencies that deal with child abuse cases.
- Ensuring that children and their families receive the support and services they need to heal.
- Promoting community action and education to prevent child abuse.
The Difference
In the past, children were shuffled among agencies, from the police department to the hospital to the mental health center to the prosecutor’s office. They have been asked to tell the story of their abuse over and over again. This fragmented system did not offer children and families the support and services they needed to begin the journey toward healing. Our organized system does!