Guadalupe County Children’s Advocacy Center

By: Alexandria Rasmus

Did you know that just under 15 years ago, if a child was treated poorly in Guadalupe County there was no one or nothing established to investigate? People actually laughed at the notion that there would have been abuse going on in the county. With child abuse being a very sensitive topic, you would think people would take it more seriously. No one realized around the time the “epidemic” in the county or anywhere. The Guadalupe County Children’s Advocacy Center is the aid to this problem in our area.

During this time, before the Center was around, child abuse cases were handled a lot differently than they would be handled now. Reports would immediately go to Child Protective Services in the county that it happened in. The call would go to whatever law enforcement agency of where it would take place to handle it. The law enforcement relied heavily on CPS which wasn’t very effective.

The GCCAC provides a welcome environment for children and families while investigating cases of neglect, abuse or assault. They take special care of the overall well-being of child while working with law enforcement, Child Protective Services and other partners to make sure this happens. As their mission statement states, “to advocate for and provide services to abused children and their families in the investigation, prosecution, treatment and prevention of child abuse, and to reduce the trauma to children by coordinating a multi-disciplinary approach.” The Center services children of all ages. Ages 6-12 being the highest demographic of children they see. As far as race, the center will see more Caucasian and Hispanic children only because that is main race demographic of people in the county.

Christie Williams is the executive director of the GCCAC. When asked what lead her to this cause, she knew that always wanted to work with children. She posed the question: “Who, more than anything, needs help than kids needs help than kids who have been through trauma?’ Having heard about the Advocacy center in San Marcos, she was moved to want to hear the stories of children and give kids a voice.

Christie has a favorite part about her job with the center. Christie enjoys that children are able to smile after having just terrible things happen to them. She called the resilience of these children inspiring. She noted their ability to smile and giggle with volunteers. Having to hear laughter in a place you usually wouldn’t hear it. Also, the team members who are focused on the children and their safety who again she called inspiring. While, others that work with the center are more aware and concerned with the protection and justice. She states, “when it works, it works”, in regards to how their system serves the children. They pull together the strengths of law enforcement, child protective service and others. She loved seeing things work the way they are supposed to.

Coming up on their 15th year anniversary, the GCCAC is nearing the opening of their new facility. Moving from their smaller operations building to one more spacious and more equipment for their needs. The difference in the facilities is not just in size, but the capabilities it will allow. Clients, in the new location, will be allowed more confidentiality without having the run into each other during their time at the center. One thing to keep in mind is that the Center’s visits usually involve therapy or the investigation of allegations. Their first location serviced over 5,000 kids within nearly 15 years. For them to have a bigger space would allow for more privacy and space for families who aren’t sure what they might be going through. From 2,100 square feet to under 10,000 square feet, the new center will accommodate four therapy spaces which includes a garden, different offices for different staff, a large training room, a volunteer’s room, a kitchen for breaks as well as plenty of storage space for files. Christie’s favorite favorite part of the building is the new training room. The training room will be used for meetings for the staff to discuss the cases that they have going and make sure no one falls through the cracks. Training would include how to work certain case whether it is a child that has witnessed a homicide, abuse cases or how to interview suspects. The space will also host speakers for the staff and other agencies to come and observe. Something special that I personally found interesting about this office space was that the Center holds self empowerment program for the kids. This program, R.A.D, teaches kids that no one should hurt them and even when it does happen, the incident is not their fault. Christie hopes this is will become a regular class.

During 2017, The Guadalupe County Children’s Advocacy Center had served 623 children. In August of 2018, they surpassed that number. With interview numbers alone, the Center has interviewed 88 cases, a record high for only one month. They have seen a steady increase of cases in the past two years due to the population of the area increasing, citizens being aware of abuse and legislation being passed that increased likelihoods that more kids would come to the Advocacy Center, seeing it as the best practice.

One big difficultly Christie states that people in the Center face are the stories. Volunteers come and go without knowing why a child is visiting the Advocacy Center. Employees gets affected the most. They get to hear the stories of what children go through. Christie remarks that there has to be a form of self-care in this job. Employees have to take care of themselves to do their job. Also, knowing that the system sometimes doesn’t always help the kids in need. There are parts that can eat away at the staff which makes it hard. Imagine knowing the pain of someone else and the only thing you can do is try to facilitate an easier way, but you still know that outside of your abilities there was still this terrible trauma.

On the volunteer front, The Guadalupe County Children’s Advocacy Center sees about 45 volunteers between the two offices in Seguin at one time. Usually, they play with the kids and help make it a more friendly environment. Interns will see more office work. Most are students who will do paperwork and take part in case reviews for course credit. Some even get to sit in on forensic interviews to know what it is like to work in a center.

Christie’s dream for the organization would be that they wouldn’t have to exist. However since that is not obtainable in the near future, she wants that every child that needs a service, gets it and in it’s highest quality. She believes that no matter the area the kids should get the appropriate resources.

She states, “Just because you live in a rural area, doesn’t mean you get less.”

As a call to the community, Christie knows that everyone has their own way of being involved. Whether it is giving their time or just providing a resource, anything would be of help to the Center. She also advises that if you see abuse or neglect, report it. They cannot help until someone takes that first step. If no one reports what they see, there is no way these kids can get the proper care they need. She is compelling other citizens to watch out for these children, be the guardian angel. The start to a possible reform in their lives that they could desperately need.

The Guadalupe County Children’s Advocacy Center can be seen as a staple in the community. Being a place for serving to help children that have experienced trauma when not very long ago there was nothing in place shows the change in climate in the county. Others like Christie Williams are ready and willing to be the difference and change this community and it’s children need.

Contact Information:

Office Phone: 830-303-4760

Original Address: 424 N River St. Seguin, TX 78155

New Address: 261 Wetz St. Seguin, TX 78155

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Photos By: Asiah Johnson