Page 63 - South Mississippi Living - April, 2024

of Abuse Takes All of Us
best for the child if we provide real support and services to prevent removing them from a home unnecessarily.
However, a small percentage of the calls we investigate involve felonious physical abuse and neglect. While roughly 10 percent of all cases, they are the most critical to identify. Felonious abuse and neglect can include sexual exploitation, torture, striking, burning, deprivation, restraining, and punishing with sadistic means. This kind of abuse and neglect can result in death and always leaves lasting and profound physical and psychological scars. Additionally, close to 40 percent of children who survive abuse perpetuate the cycle with their children.
So, now that you know how complex the problem is, what do we do about it? Give up? Never, but a state agency cannot do it alone. It takes all of us. That is why our partnership with the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi, or
CACM, is so important. They are a non-profit organization that specializes in helping children survive the most horrific abuse and neglect. CACM member centers conduct forensic interviews with victims in a safe therapeutic environment eliciting evidence that will stand up in criminal court
to convict perpetrators of abuse. Children’s Advocacy Centers convene a multidisciplinary team, or MDT, of
law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental/ medical health, and advocacy, to streamline a complicated and often grueling process for child victims. The MDT collectively makes decisions about investigation, treatment, management, and prosecution.
We are proud to collaborate with the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi to protect children from abuse and neglect, ensure perpetrators do not continue to harm children, and help victims become children again.
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