"Someone told me I was strong. I was a child. I didn't want to feel strong. I wanted to feel safe."
TEN YEARS! The Carroll County Child Advocacy Center (CC-CAC) has been serving Carroll, Haralson, and Heard counties for TEN, count it 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10 years! During that ten years, our center has served thousands of children and the adults that care for them. The staff of our little center puts our efforts, skills, and hearts into the critical work of preventing child abuse in our area and intervening on behalf of those who have been affected by such.
It is never lost on our team the reason(s) that bring children and their caregiver(s) to the CC-CAC. We want their time with us to be a positive step on what may be a long and hard journey. We believe and are thankful for the resilience of children. Although, we know resilience doesn't just magically happen following traumatic experiences and hardships; resilience requires work, hard work.
On September 9th, 2022, we formally celebrated our ten years of service. Those who were in attendance at our anniversary celebration heard the powerful words of our keynote speaker, an adult who not only survived child sexual abuse, but has thrived despite the experience. While humbly sharing her story, and possibly without her knowledge she put forth a charge to all who were listening. There was a collective breath taken when in a gentle voice she told us, "Someone told me I was strong. I was a child. I didn't want to feel strong. I wanted to feel safe."
Let that sit and resonate for a moment...
Do we simply hope and quite possibly assume nothing "bad" will happen to the children we love? Are we relying on the strength of children, as opposed to doing everything we possibly can to keep them safe? These are questions I ask myself daily, and I hope each of you reading do as well.
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