Welcome to Your 1st Visit at Hope House
You and your child have been asked to come to Children’s Advocacy Center – Hope House because child abuse has been suspected and reported, and is now being investigated. The CAC houses the professionals who will help you and your child with the investigation, advocacy, and the healing process.
What to Expect During Your First Visit
At Hope House, we want to ensure that your first visit is as comfortable and informative as possible. Our dedicated staff will guide you through each step of the process, answering any questions you may have along the way.
Forensic Interview
The first step in the investigation is usually a forensic interview. CAC interviewers are compassionate and highly trained in professional forensic interviewing protocols. They talk to children and teens at their developmental level. Interviews are neutral and child-friendly.
Meeting with a Investigator
You will also meet with an investigator. We work closely with local law enforcement agencies and the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services to ensure the investigative needs are met for your family.
Therapy, Advocacy, & More
When you come to the CAC Hope House, you’ll learn about other services, like therapy and advocacy, which may help you and your child during this time. Our clinicians are highly trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, an evidence-based treatment designed to significantly reduce the impact of childhood trauma.
Forensic Medical Exam
In some cases, a forensic medical exam will be needed. Forensic medical exams are conducted at the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center in New Orleans. If you are told that your child needs a forensic medical exam, your investigator or advocate will help you schedule an appointment and guide you the process of the forensic medical exam.
Testimonials
CAC Hope House is based on a nationally recognized model of care. The child advocacy center model has been shown to be a more child-friendly, effective community response to reported child abuse. We ask parents and caregivers about their experience at the center on a regular basis.
Jane Smith
Marketing Manager, XYZ Company
Mark Johnson
Founder, ABC Corporation
Emily Brown
HR Director, XYZ Inc.
Michael Johnson
COO, ABC Company
Sarah Thompson
Marketing Director, XYZ Corporation
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions about your first visit to Hope House.
Once the Forensic Interview is conducted, the CAC family advocate, clinical director, clinicians & forensic interviewer will come together in what is called “internal case review or staffing.” The team will develop of plan of care for the victim and family, determine needed resources and other partners who need to be included in the service plan. At times, it may be ascertained that a victim is more appropriately served by another provider in the community. This planning process occurs within a week of the initial forensic interview and intake. The Family Advocate will then contact the family & convey the team’s recommendations for services and the plan of care as well as linking them to those resources.
The knowledge and science of childhood adversity and trauma has expanded greatly in recent decades. As a result, there is a universal movement that views childhood adversity and trauma through a public health lens and underscores that trauma in childhood is the leading public health issue we face. This movement toward expanding the lens of addressing childhood trauma and expanding the approaches to offset the negative impact of trauma across all disciplines is trauma-informed care.
Yes
Yes, the cost depends on the time commitment and whether the training may be provided within the framework of grant funds the CAC is currently awarded.
Vicarious trauma and Secondary Stress are often used interchangeably. The term Vicarious traumatization (VT) was coined by Pearlman & Saakvitne (1995) to describe the profound shift in world view that occurs in helping professionals when they work with individuals who have experienced trauma: helpers notice that their fundamental beliefs about the world are altered and possibly damaged by being repeatedly exposed to traumatic material. Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) is a concept that was developed by trauma specialists Beth Stamm, Charles Figley and others in the early 1990s as they sought to understand why service providers seemed to be exhibiting symptoms similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) without having necessarily been exposed to direct trauma themselves. VT/STS can occur in professionals who work in high-stress and trauma-exposed fields (child abuse investigators, prosecutors, judges, therapists, health care professionals, animal shelter workers and many others) but it can also affect civilians who do not work in high-trauma fields but are deeply impacted by stories that they are exposed to (maybe graphic news accounts, a friend sharing details of a traumatic event they experienced, again, there are many examples of ways in which this may occur.)
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