Children’s Services
With a focus on healthy childhood growth and development, family problem-solving skills, and education and supportive services for caregivers, we offer a wide range of options to provide support for positive-child relationships. We also offer a full array of intervention and treatment services, including crisis intervention by licensed clinical social workers.
Southwest Virginia Children’s Advocacy Center
The Southwest Virginia Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) is an accredited, child-focused, community-oriented, safe facility where representatives from many disciplines meet to discuss and make decisions about investigation, treatment and prosecution of child abuse cases. The aim is to help reduce stress and trauma for the child victim. The center is designed to accommodate children of all ages.
The multidisciplinary team approach brings together under one umbrella all the professionals and agencies needed to offer comprehensive services: law enforcement, child protective services, prosecution, victim advocacy and the medical community. A specially trained professional conducts forensic interviews with the child victim, while team members observe and participate from behind a one-way mirror. This approach reduces the number of times children must repeat their stories of abuse. The initial contact person and the safe atmosphere are critical in the efforts to gain children’s confidence and trust.
Trauma-focused mental health treatment services include short-term, evidence-based therapy, crisis intervention, assessment, case management, safety planning, criminal justice and advocacy. Because child abuse affects not only the child, but the entire family, the CAC also offers a family advocate program. This program provides case management, education and support to parents and caregivers to help them better understand and cope with the impact of child abuse. A program is also available for adults who were abused as children. All services are provided at no cost to the family.
Healthy Families for Southwest Virginia
Healthy Families for Southwest Virginia is an accredited and evidence-based home visiting program that provides information, education and supportive services to new parents. All services are provided at no cost to the family. Parents can access the program prenatal or postnatal through their obstetrician-gynecologist, in the hospital following their baby’s birth, or through self-referral. Participants qualify for a free Welcome Baby package filled with pregnancy and/or parenting information, samples of baby products, and a baby gift. Healthy Families is a voluntary program that provides a family with a specially-trained home visitor who visits regularly, can answer questions, calm fears, provide development and health information, and connect parents with community resources.
If you are interested in becoming a Healthy Families for Southwest Virginia participant or would like to know more about the program, please click HERE to complete a request form.
KinCare
An increasing number of children in our region are being raised by grandparents for a variety of reasons. KinCare provides free services, support, and assistance specifically to grandparents or other relative caregivers who are acting as surrogate parents or who have custody of relative children. The program includes care coordination, monthly support groups, family fun events, counseling and case management, legal assistance, parenting education and information, advocacy, and information and referral. To be eligible, caregivers must provide full-time care of relative children living in their home. KinCare children may be living in the caregiver’s home through the formal or informal foster care system or after the caregiver received legal custody of or adopted the child.
