Child
Abuse Prevention & Treatment
Our
Child Advocacy Center provides specialized treatment to physically,
sexually and emotionally abused children who are suffering from
depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, attachment disorders
and other symptoms of severe abuse. Our staff is specially trained
in the treatment of these children and their families. We also
provide victim’s advocacy services in the courts. Unfortunately
the fate of sexually abused children is often determined as
much by the non-offending family members’ response as
by the disclosure of the sexual abuse itself.
If the child is not believed, or if the child is believed
but not then protected from further abuse, then the trauma and
the damage to the child is much more devastating than the child
abuse alone. Adults molested as children (AMAC) who felt unable
to tell or who were not believed when they disclosed are the
ones who most frequently end up with ruined lives...drug and
alcohol problems, sexually promiscuous behaviors, relationship
problems, low self-esteem, poor parenting skills, and major
depression. Because nobody protected them, these AMAC parents
are often unable to protect themselves and to protect their
own children from being victimized.
Children who are believed and protected from further abuse,
who 
understand
that the abuse was a crime against them, and who get good support
from family and counselors have a good chance of overcoming
the effects of child sexual abuse and moving on with their lives.
KYDC’s programs for child sexual abuse victims and for
non-offending parents provide the counseling services and support
groups needed to successfully recover from sex abuse.
The hardest task for KYDC staff is working with non-offending
parents who want to reunite with the offender and who refuse
to believe that the offender abused their children. Intensive
education about the dynamics of sexual offending helps more
than 50% of these parents overcome their thinking errors. The
rest are on a continuum of parents who find it difficult, if
not impossible to break through denial. Their children, unfortunately,
remain at great risk. KYDC is a major sponsor of community-wide
education programs that teach about physical, sexual and emotional
abuse prevention.
