Soon, hopefully by next year, children who suffer from abuse will have an important ally: The Central Alabama Regional Child Advocacy Center.

The Advocacy Center will be a central area for abused children to seek help, which will be much better for abused children and their family.

“Under our present system children must tell the story many, many times to different people,” Susan Keith of the Dallas County District Attorney’s office said. “There are a lot of family rifts as a result.”

Families, Keith said, must often deal with an abuser or pedophile that is a family member of friend, which a lot of families aren’t prepared for.

“Mothers have typically taught their children about the stranger with a trenchcoat on,” Keith said. “We don’t always educate our children about the ones closest to us. Perpetrators of child abuse are usually known to the child.

“Whereever there are children, there are pedophiles.” Keith said.

With the new Center, children will only tell their story once, Keith said. Other members of the legal, phsychological and law enforcement community will either be present during the interview, out of sight of the child, or have access to transcripts.

“So that each discipline can know what they need to know,” she said.

The center will also feature a full-time prosecutor, to increase efficiency in the cases.

At the 48th Annual

Central Alabama Fair Monday, the center will be raising money to support the cause by selling T-Shirts at a booth. They’ll also be distributing awareness and educational materials about protecting children from child abuse.”

Right now, the center is attempting to get matching funds for an ADECA grant, to pay for an executive director and a site.

“We’re hopeful that early next year we’ll be able to start appropriately handling reported cases of child abuse,” Keith said.

To donate, send money to the Central Alabama Regional Child Advocacy Center, c/o the District Attorney’s Office, at P.O. Box 987, Selma, AL, 36702.