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About
Us
Our Mission
As a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, The GreenHouse Child Advocacy & Sexual Assault Center facilitates a trauma-informed system response to reports of child abuse and/or sexual assault, providing free services to victims and their supportive caregivers/partners.
The GreenHouse Child Advocacy & Sexual Assault Center was created as a joint governmental and nonprofit organization with the purpose of serving child victims of sexual abuse. Recognizing that child victims of sexual abuse and crime needed additional support, Judge Jack Partain (who was District Attorney at the time), along with a board of professionals and community members set out to establish such a center for our area. The GreenHouse was created as an outreach of the District Attorney's (DA's) Victim/Witness Assistance Program and began offering services in 1994. The GreenHouse Child Advocacy Center officially opened to the public in May 1995 as a service of the DA's office serving child victims of crime, primarily sexual abuse but also physical abuse. The GreenHouse was the first advocacy center established in the State of Georgia with this unique partnership, and since the time of its inception, other centers have developed using this model. The GreenHouse operated as a branch of the DA’s office for the first 20 years at which time the Board of Directors voted to become an independent, freestanding, financially self-sufficient non-profit agency in 2015. It was at this time that the GreenHouse became a United Way of Northwest Georgia Community Partner.
The GreenHouse is a child-friendly environment designed to minimize trauma to young victims. Services include forensic interviews, advocacy, and therapy. The forensic interview is conducted by a trained professional and is recorded to help reduce the number of times a child has to disclose and discuss abuse. An Advocate shepherds victims and supportive caregivers through the criminal justice system keeping them aware of their rights as victims. Trauma-informed therapy is where healing and recovery begin. At the heart of the child advocacy center (CAC) model is the multidisciplinary team (MDT). The MDT process brings together the different agencies involved in the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases. Our MDT team is made up of law enforcement, prosecutors, DFCS, GreenHouse staff, and other professionals that meet regularly to make informed decisions that are in the best interest of the children involved. The MDT team serves the Conasauga Judicial Circuit (Whitfield and Murray counties).
While the majority of GreenHouse clients are children, we are also a sexual assault center serving adult sexual assault clients with advocacy, coordination of forensic medical exams, and therapy referrals. All services are provided to GreenHouse clients free of charge.
Our Story
Without a CAC
To understand what a Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) is, you must understand what children face without one. Without a CAC, the child may end up having to tell about the worst thing that has happened in his or her life over and over again, to doctors, police officers, lawyers, therapists, investigators, judges, and others. They may have to talk about that traumatic experience in a police station where they think they might be in trouble or may be asked the wrong questions by a well-meaning teacher or other adult that could hurt the case against the abuser.
With a CAC
When law enforcement or child protective services (Department of Families and Children Services) believe a child is being abused, the child is brought to the GreenHouse, which is a safe, child-focused environment, by a caregiver or other “safe” adult. At the CAC, the child tells their story one time, on camera, to a trained forensic interviewer who knows the right questions to ask in a way that does not retraumatize the child. Then, the multidisciplinary team (MDT) which includes medical professionals, law enforcement, mental health providers, district attorney's office/VWAP, school systems, child protective services, victim advocacy, and other professionals make decisions together about how to best help the child and their family. The children's advocacy center offers trauma-focused therapy and victim advocacy for the child and the non-offending caregiver. This is called the MDT response and is a core part of the work of CACs. We are thankful to have strong partnerships with our MDT members.
While the majority of GreenHouse clients are children, we are also a sexual assault center serving adult sexual assault clients with advocacy, coordination of forensic medical exams, and therapy referrals. All services are provided to GreenHouse clients free of charge.