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Video Stirs Emotions About Child Abuse
Since early 2007 the Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) and the Osceola Council on Aging (OCOA) have collaborated, working to create an intergenerational campus that will serve vulnerable child abuse victims and help prevent child abuse in our community with a replicable plan that may be shared on a national level.
The CAC and the OCOA plan to provide services to abused children, low-income seniors and disadvantaged families, creating a continuum of care that will support families in breaking the generational cycle of abuse. Program assistance will include: rent/mortgages, energy bills, nutrition, health care, mentoring and counseling. Child abuse is a problem that permeates all levels of society however, a large percentage of families struggling with abuse are in the low-Income segment. Abuse is also a generational problem, with the abused often becoming abusers. Providing support for a child in an abuse situation is crucial to healing, but breaking the cycle of generational abuse requires providing support to whole families and communities.
In July 2008 the Osceola Council on Aging and the Children's Advocacy Center of Osceola teamed up to create a video to dramatize the trauma and anguish experienced by the victims of child sexual abuse.
An intergenerational campus with an array of comprehensive services in one central location would present a rare and precious opportunity to promote recovery and prevention. The intergenerational mentoring programs of the OCOA have produced exemplary results among at-risk youth, with 100% of the children showing improvements in grades, school attendance, attitude, behavior, confidence and social skills. This collaboration would provide the child clients of the CAC with the same programs and benefits.
The tangible results of the partnership of the OCOA and the CAC will be a reality soon as the construction of the final phase of the Barney E. Veal Center for All Generations is expected to be completed in March 2009. For further information on this project, call the OCOA at 407-846-8532 or the CAC at (407) 518-6936 x-235.
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