Advocacy center's 35-year legacy provides support to kids in Sangamon Co.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - For 35 years, the Sangamon County Child Advocacy Center (CAC) has welcomed kids ages three to eighteen through their doors.

The CAC is a safe space for children. When a child is reported as abused, a forensic interviewer meets with the child at the CAC to listen to their story. Department of Children and Family Services and law enforcement officers observe the interview and information obtained is able to be used in court proceedings.

"Before the child advocacy centers existed, children would have to tell their story to law enforcement, then they'd have to tell it again to DCFS and then they'd have to tell it to the state's attorney office and maybe a medical provider," says CAC Executive Director Denise Johnson. "Each time the child had to relive that story, it just created more trauma for them."

The CAC provides help and intervention early on to give kids the skills to cope and work through the trauma they've experienced. Last year alone, the CAC provided advocacy services to 1,018 people, an increase from the two previous years.

"They're investigating very, very serious cases with very young victims that have often gone through something very, very traumatic," said John Milhiser, the Sangamon County State's Attorney. "We want to make that experience for them as as painless as possible."

The Sangamon County Child Advocacy Center also serves residents of Logan, Christian, and Menard Counties. There are more than 600 child advocacy centers across the country.