Children's Advocacy Center of Comal County

The CACCC

The CACCC helps investigate and prevent abuse so that kids can be free to act like kids.

Before the CACCC was created, children who had been abused in Comal County, Texas were taken to many different places to be interviewed by investigators. Often a child would need to tell his or her story to a police officer, a child protective services worker, and an assistant district attorney, all the while being shuttled back and forth from one institutional and sometimes intimidating environment to another.

The Children’s Advocacy Center of Comal County was created so that children who had been abused could come to a single place to be interviewed one time so that the number of interviews a child had to experience would be minimized as much as possible. Investigators watch the interview being done by a professional, objective forensic interviewer as it is being recorded. Additionally, the CACCC has a home-like environment, complete with a playroom to make children feel more comfortable.

Further, the CACCC has an important role in coordinating the agencies who deal with child abuse cases by facilitating monthly multidisciplinary team (the MDT) meetings. At the MDT meetings, all abuse cases in the County are discussed and team members make certain that the appropriate services have been provided to both the child and the family.

To Contact Us:

111 East Commerce Street
P.O. Box 312200
New Braunfels, TX 78131-2200
Phone: 830-626-2543
Fax: 830-626-6599
caccctsharp@yahoo.com

Staff
Trendy Sharp,
    Executive Director
Susan White,
    Program Assistant/
Volunteer Coordinator
Sara Cantu,
    Forensic Interviewer/Program Director

If You Suspect Abuse
Contact the statewide hotline for suspected abuse or neglect of children at:
1-800-252-5400

The CACCC and Forensic Interviews

Forensic interviews are performed in an environment that is created to make a child feel comfortable and at home.

The CACCC is housed in a small cottage in New Braunfels that was built in the 1920’s.

Children read, draw, watch television, play video games or just relax quietly in the playroom prior to an interview.

Forensic interviews are sessions where an objective and trained interviewer asks a child if he or she has been abused and if so, tries to get the child to speak about it. The interview is recorded on VHS and DVD to preserve the interview for evidence in case it is needed in court.

Law enforcement, assistant district attorneys and child protective service workers watch the interview on television as it is being recorded.