If you want to give back to your community, donating to local charities and community centers is an excellent way to start.
Understandably, when making donations, you’ll likely want to know how your money is being spent.
At the Children’s Advocacy Center of Hidalgo and Starr Counties (CACHSC), we use the donations we receive to help child abuse survivors and their families. Many of the children we serve come from families who cannot afford the support needed, whether it be medical, financial, or emotional.
Here is how CACHSC helps children and how we utilize the donations provided to us by our outstanding donors and advocates.
The Forensic Interview
The first step we take when a child is referred to our services is the forensic interview. Our trained interviewers perform this one-on-one to ensure the children feel safe while going over difficult topics and traumatic experiences.
We work closely with investigators to ensure children go through as few interviews as possible.
Our interviewers are trained to meet children at their level and meaningfully discuss the experience while also learning about the family dynamic.
Each of these interviews costs approximately $75, and the donations we receive through events like our Vinos fundraiser help to cover these expenses for the families.
The SANE Exam
If the allegations include sexual abuse, the next step is an exam with a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. Pediatric SANE nurses know how to properly document any evidence such as behavioral, emotional, and physical signs of abuse.
This exam is virtually painless and aids in collecting any physical evidence still present.
These exams are an incredibly critical component of the process and having the trained professionals available to complete these exams is vital for the work we do. With each exam costing around $500, our sponsors and donors help to make a real difference in the lives of the children and families we serve.
This also ensures that non-offending family members and caregivers are not strapped with unnecessary financial burdens.
Hope and Healing
While getting justice can help keep children safe, it can’t fix the effects of trauma.
At CACHSC, evaluate every child who needs our support, providing the services they need to not only survive but thrive. We offer scientifically proven counseling and therapies to help reduce the symptoms of trauma and give kids back their childhood.
Each therapy session is around $125 and, typically, multiple sessions are needed. If the child is in crisis, the cost to help them is $150.
Rebuilding Families
We also help to heal non-offending family members and caregivers. We offer parenting classes and therapy to help give the family support to protect their children, and because the effects of abuse can also harm others in the family, we make sure to offer help to heal caregivers as well.
Our Family Support Specialists work to make families aware of their rights and help them find and access important resources. These services run about $100, but it’s invaluable when it comes to rebuilding families.
How You Can Help
You can sponsor a service to help us provide these much needed services to the children of Hidalgo and Starr Counties.
- Sponsor A Service – $75 One Forensic Interview
- Sponsor A Service – $100 One Victim Family Support
- Sponsor A Service – $125 One Therapy Session
- Sponsor A Service – $150 One Crisis Intervention
- Sponsor A Service – $500 One Sexual Assault Nurse Exam (SANE)
- Sponsor A Service – $1500 Services For One Victim For One Month
The work we do at CACHSC is only possible with the aid of people like you!
Donations of any amount help to cover the $1,500 it costs to provide services for one of the 200 children we serve on average each month. In addition, our federal grant funds works on a 20% cash-match system, so every dollar donated has four times the impact!
