We Welcome Victims to a
​Safe, Child-Friendly Place

The Blount County Children's Center is a safe place for victims of child abuse. Our clients include children and teenagers, as well as adults. Whether you are five years old or fifty-five, discussing physical or sexual abuse is very difficult and frightening.  At the Children's Center, you will find caring, compassionate professionals who understand and can help.

We Bring Together Community Agencies to
​Help Victims of Abuse

The Children's Center is here to help any child in Blount County who discloses abuse. When law enforcement or the Department of Human Resources (DHR)  is notified, the child is brought to the Children's Center as soon as possible.  Children and their family members are greeted with a big smile and made to feel comfortable in our home-like, child-friendly setting.  While the child talks with a specially trained interviewer, representatives from other agencies observe on a closed-circuit TV in another room.  These professionals might include people from law enforcement, DHR, mental health, the District Attorney's Office, and Juvenile Probation.  This allows all the necessary agencies to hear the child's story in just one interview.  Preventing multiple interviews helps to reduce the amount of embarrassment and trauma on the child.  Also, the collaboration among different agencies improves the quality of the investigation.  After the interview, the Children's Center continues to assist the family in many ways.  We help arrange medical exams, counseling, and other services for children and their families.

We Provide
​Professional Counseling

Victims of child abuse sometimes resist help from others.  Because of embarrassment or other reasons, children frequently try to make it alone.  However, people who get professional help tend to cope much better.  That's why the Children's Center offers professional counseling to children, teens, and adults.  Our licensed therapist is specially trained and experienced in helping victims of sexual and physical abuse, domestic violence, rape, emotional abuse, and other trauma.  Thanks in part to a grant from the Alabama Department of Economic & Community Affairs (ADECA) and the U. S. Department of Justice, the Children's Center is able to provide these services free of charge.

We Teach
​Child Abuse Prevention

We believe that the cycle of child abuse can be broken. Every year, we meet with thousands of school children to teach them how to recognize abuse and how to protect themselves.  Through the years, many children have escaped abuse thanks to these programs.

173

202

1,152

284

5,515

80

The Numbers

The number of new child victims served during 2017.

The number of child victims and caregivers receiving therapy during 2017.

The number of therapy hours provided to children and their caregivers in 2017.

The number of child abuse prevention presentations conducted in area schools during 2015.

The number of children reached by our in-school child abuse prevention programs in 2017.

The number of children whose Christmas was sponsored by our donors in 2017.

---