Forty Years of Healing: What We’ve learned About Protecting Collier County’s Children

Forty years ago, a small group of people in Collier County came together around a simple but powerful idea: protecting children from abuse is a community effort.

That belief led to the creation of what is now Collier Children’s Advocacy Center. In 1986, we began as a child protection team serving 167 children and their families. Today, Collier CAC serves more than 1,357 children and family members each year, providing forensic interviews, specialized medical evaluations, trauma-informed therapy, court and family advocacy and parent education.

Those numbers tell part of our story. But after more than three decades with this organization, I know our impact cannot be measured by numbers alone.

Our impact is found in the child who walks through our doors frightened and unsure, then discovers a place where they can feel safe. It is found in the parent or caregiver navigating a situation they never imagined and learning they do not have to navigate it alone. And it is found in the professionals who come together every day with one shared priority: walking the child through the road of recovery.

When a child experiences abuse, the systems intended to help them can unintentionally add to their trauma. A child may otherwise have to tell the same painful story repeatedly to law enforcement officers, medical professionals and others.

For decades, Collier CAC has worked to change that experience.

Our multidisciplinary approach brings the professionals involved in these cases together so children can tell their story in a safe, child-focused environment and receive coordinated care. By coordinating these services through one organization, we replace what could otherwise require as many as six separate agency visits with a single, coordinated response.

That coordination matters because our responsibility does not end when an investigation does. For many children, that is only the beginning of the healing process.

Our therapists provide specialized, evidence-based treatment for children and their caregivers. Our advocates help families navigate court proceedings, schools and community resources. Our parent education programs strengthen relationships and give caregivers tools that can help break cycles of abuse and neglect. Every one of our programs is provided at no cost to families.

I have had the privilege of watching this organization evolve tremendously. When I joined Collier CAC six years after its founding, we had four employees and an operating budget of less than $300,000 and served 465 clients. Today, we have 19 employees and a $2.5 million budget, and our partnerships extend across law enforcement, the Department of Children and Families, the State Attorney’s Office, Collier County Public Schools and many others.

In all those years, I have seen our community change and our organization grow. Yet, one thing has remained constant: children have the best opportunity for healing when they are surrounded by adults who believe them, support them and are committed to helping them heal.

That lesson feels particularly meaningful as we celebrate our 40th anniversary and prepare to enter a new chapter.

After Hurricane Ian destroyed our primary facility in 2022, our services were forced across multiple locations. Families already facing an extraordinarily difficult time have had to travel between sites to receive care.

Our new campus reunites those services.

Through our Lifting Up. Building Strength. initiative, services and programs such as forensic interviews, specialized medical evaluations, trauma therapy, family and court advocacy and parent education come back together in one setting. It is more than a new building. It represents the next chapter of the work Collier CAC has spent 40 years doing in our community.

I am incredibly grateful for the people who made this work possible — our staff, board members, law enforcement partners, child protection professionals, prosecutors, educators, donors, volunteers and countless community advocates.

Collier CAC is an independent nonprofit, not a government agency. Our ability to provide these services depends on a community that recognizes protecting children as a shared responsibility.

As we look toward the next 40 years, that responsibility continues.

No child should have to face abuse. But when the unthinkable happens, every child should have a safe place to turn, compassionate professionals ready to listen and a community committed to helping them heal.

For 40 years, that has been our promise to Collier County’s children. And it remains our promise for the next 40.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jackie Stephens is the CEO of Collier Children’s Advocacy Center, where she oversees five programs designed to provide specialized trauma-informed care to children and families affected by abuse.

The Collier Children’s Advocacy Center is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the first point of care for children in Collier County when abuse is suspected. Since 1986, Collier CAC has provided forensic interviews, medical evaluations, therapy, family advocacy and parent education in one child-centered setting, reducing what could be up to six separate agency visits to a single coordinated response.

Collier CAC is the only organization in Collier County legally authorized to perform forensic medical exams for children under 12 and to deliver medical, court advocacy and therapeutic services under one roof. All services are provided free of charge, removing financial barriers so families can access support regardless of circumstance.

Learn more at caccollier.org.