We Care About Kids
As a Child Advocacy Center we are chartered with caring for children and young adults that are the victims of abuse in our region of KY.
A non-profit 501c3 agency since 1998, the BRACAC is an Accredited Member of the National Children’s Alliance and a Full Member of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Kentucky.
Our mission is possible only through the collaboration of the various professionals that must intervene when sexual abuse and/or exploitation of a child is disclosed or suspected. The Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center or “BRACAC” starts with the idea that no one agency or professional can adequately respond and meet the needs of a child victim. Rather, it takes the expertise of a core multidisciplinary team of professionals – law enforcement, child protection services, prosecutors, physicians, therapists and professional advocates – all working together to provide children and their non-offending family members or caregivers with quality services and support they need.
Located in Bowling Green/Warren County, the BRACAC is a regional Children’s Advocacy Center that serves Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Metcalfe, Monroe, Simpson and Warren Counties. The Center works closely with other professionals through protocols of the region’s ten Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs) to coordinate and provide best practices services for victims of child sexual abuse and their non-offending members in one neutral, safe and child friendly location. Offenders – alleged or otherwise, are not permitted at the Center. The Center provides consultation to its MDTs and hospitals and services to children as determined necessary and as staffing and resources allow, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All services are provided on a first-come basis and at no expense to a child’s family.
The trauma and impact of sexual abuse can be devastating to a child. But by working together at the BRACAC, children and families receive quality services in a trauma-informed environment to stop abuse, begin the healing process and enhance the prosecution of offenders of this horrific crime against children.
Our Impact
We work every day to make a difference.
Since our founding in 1998, we have helped over 10,000 children in our local community with support after child abuse.
Serving Children & Families in Allen, Barren, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, Logan, Metcalfe, Monroe, Simpson & Warren Counties.
Organization History
Looking back on our journey and forward to our commitment
In the spring of 1998, child advocates and professionals in the Barren River Area met to discuss the lack of critical services for victims of child sexual abuse and their non-offending family members. They determined the region desperately needed one, very special and child friendly place that would provide on-site crisis intervention, case investigations and coordination of team members, and most importantly, services to child victims. The group formed a Board of Directors and applied for a small VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) grant later that summer, determined to develop a Child Advocacy Center to serve the region. BRACAC hired an Executive Director in December 1998 and immediately began the ambitious goal to develop a Center that would support a ten county region. With the support of city and county leaders, regional legislators and then Governor and Mrs. Paul E. Patton, BRACAC purchased a large, historical church located just blocks from the Bowling Green Police Department in the summer of 1999. BRACAC then partnered with the Warren County Fiscal Court and the Barren River Area Development District office to apply for a Community Block Development Grant (CDBG) in August 1999, receiving approval in November 1999. With access to the funds made possible in May 2000, BRACAC continued to work diligently to renovate, prepare and occupy the Center’s new home.
Meanwhile, the creation of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Kentucky, the passing of critical legislation establishing Child Advocacy Centers or “CACs,” and the development of additional funding made the addition of a full time Child Advocate possible in April 2000. A full time therapist was added to the staff in the final stages of renovation of the Center’s facility in the winter 2000. Following a long-term recruitment effort, BRACAC teamed up with four dedicated physicians and a volunteer medical assistant in the summer of 2000 to complete specialized training in preparation for the provision of on-site specialized medical examinations for victims of child sexual abuse. Proudly, the Center celebrated its grand opening on January 12, 2001 and immediately went to work providing all core services to the children and families of the ten county region.
The Center now maintains a full time staff of one Executive Director, a Coordinator of Operations & Finance, three Child Advocates, two Therapists, an Intake Coordinator, and an MDT Coordinator. Its extended staff consists of a Community Outreach Coordinator, two part-time Forensic Interviewers, a part-time therapist, three volunteer physicians, an RN and a host of enthusiastic volunteers to support its mission and services to the community.
Our history is strong, but our vision and commitment to positive change for the future of children in our regional community is even stronger…