History
- Jackson County represents one of the largest counties in the State
- Jackson County is home to over 52,000 residents
- All of our surrounding counties have CAC’s (DeKalb, Marshall, Madison, Etowah, Limestone) until 2018 we did not. We had to rely on DeKalb County to help serve our children for fourteen (14) years.
- Beginning in 2005 – children from Jackson County who had the ability to travel to DeKalb County, were allowed to receive therapy and forensic interviews free of charge.
- In 2008, a forensic interviewer began to travel to Jackson County to offer forensic interviews on an as needed basis (as the need grew so did the services offered).
- In 2015, a therapist and trained forensic interviewer began to see child victims in office space provided by Jackson County DHR 2 days per week. This lessened the burden on families to travel to Fort Payne to receive services. After 2 years, because of the increasing numbers of child victims, the days devoted to Jackson County increased to 3 days per week.
- In 2017, Based on this information it became apparent there was a substantial need for services in Jackson County. In order to better serve the growing number of child victims, it became obvious that Jackson County should form its own CAC in 2017 and began working on that specific goal with five (5) initial board members Kristie Crabtree, Shannon Heikkinen, Misty Godfrey, Angie Bain and Rob Paradise. Judge Word was instrumental in this endeavor.
- In 2018, 45 child victims received over 200 individual therapy sessions
- 48 forensic interviews were conducted.
- Jackson County DHR received 433 reports concerning the abuse or neglect of children
- These reports represent a total of 660 children of various ages
- An average of 111 children were in DHR custody
- In 2019, 51 child victims received over 125 individual therapy sessions
- 23 forensic interviews were conducted
- In 2020, 111 new cases (as of 12/12/2020)
- 896 direct services
- 59 Forensic Interviews were conducted
- 726 Therapy Sessions
Founding Members
- Kristie Crabtree
- Shannon Heikkinen
- Misty Godfrey
- Angie Bain
- Rob Paradise
What We Provide (FREE)
- Forensic Interviews
- Individual therapy sessions
- Follow up and referral services
- Victim Advocacy
- Court preparation
- Multidisciplinary Team case reviews
- Community Education and Prevention