OUR MISSION
The mission of the Gateway Children's Advocacy Center is to coordinate services to child sexual and physical abuse as well as human trafficking victims in the Gateway area in a safe and nurturing environment where trauma is lessened and healing is enhanced.
ABOUT US
Gateway Children’s Advocacy Center opened its doors in the year of 2000 in Morehead, Kentucky as a Children’s Advocacy Center. The center grew out of a community child sexual abuse task force made up of child protective services, law enforcement, prosecution, mental health and medical communities who met regularly to define and refine professional roles in investigations and intervention in order to improve the system’s response to sexual abuse. Their efforts resulted in strong working relationships with clear investigative guidelines for an intervention system designed with the victim as its primary focus. Out of this task force a multi-disciplinary team was formed according to KRS 431.600 and 620.020 which mandates that all investigations of child sexual abuse be conducted by a specialized multi-disciplinary team.
Gateway Children’s Advocacy Center is a victim-focused, facility which provides a safe atmosphere for the victim, lessens trauma and promotes healing by maximizing services though a multidisciplinary team approach. Gateway Children’s Advocacy Center actively seeks to reduce the occurrence of sexual assault and heighten awareness through the prevention of education. Our center provides a victim-friendly environment, designed to meet the needs of sexual assault victim, which include warmth, support and protection. Gateway Children’s Advocacy Center is where all agencies can coordinate services for the common goal of prevention, intervention and accountability. Child sexual abuse is one of the most pervasive social problems faced by this society, its impact is profound because of the sheer frequency with which it occurs and because of the trauma brought to the lives of children and adults who have experienced this crime. Historically however, the sexual abuse of children was dismissed as a “family problem.”
The significant impact of childhood sexual abuse is unquestionable. This impact however, speaks not only to the individual child victim of the crime, but also to the mental health community. There is no longer a question of whether the child sexual abuse is a criminal justice problem, a social services problem, or a mental health problem, for its power pervades the territory of each. The question must now lie in the resolve of all professionals to overcome skepticism, with acknowledgment, disbelief with understanding, indifference and indigence, and reluctance to intervene with an unswayable intolerance of victimization of all children.
Gateway Children’s Advocacy Center’s goals are to protect child and adult victims of sexual abuse, from harm, to provide remedial counseling for victims and their families, to minimize further trauma, to protect society from offenders and to hold the offender accountable for his/her actions. Gateway Children’s Advocacy Center recognizes that effective child abuse intervention requires a cooperative effort between professionals in many agencies and disciplines.
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Gateway Children's Advocacy Center serves Rowan, Bath, Morgan, Montgomery, and Menifee Counties as well as providing additional support to surrounding communities.