Child Advocacy Center

The East Mississippi Child Advocacy Center (EMCAC) works with a team of professionals in the area of child abuse investigations. EMCAC provides a variety of services for children and non-offending caregivers involved in investigations of child abuse. There is no charge for any of the services provided by EMCAC. Services provided by EMCAC include:

Forensic Interview

A forensic interview is conducted by a trained Forensic Interviewer with children and teens when there are allegations of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or if they have witnessed a violent crime. The forensic interview is fact finding in nature and legally sound as it allows for a child to share the details of their experience(s) in a child-friendly, culturally and developmentally sensitive, and unbiased setting. The forensic interviews are observed live by the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) through closed circuit television.

MultiDisciplinary Team Facilitation

Our MDT includes members from law enforcement, Child Protective Services, victim advocates, District Attorney offices, mental health agencies, medical providers, Youth Court personnel, forensic interviewers, and others as required. The purpose of the MDT is to allow all agencies to work together and collaborate on each investigation to reduce trauma to children and to ensure appropriate follow-up services are available to children and their families.

Trauma Counseling

All of our counselors are licensed or licensed eligible and working under the supervision of a licensed counselor to obtain their full licensure. Our counselors are all trained in various research and evidenced based trauma treatment modalities. We have counselors that are trained and/or certified in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TFCBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and others. Our counselors offer in person counseling as well as telemental health for those that cannot always come to our office for in person sessions.

Family & Victim Advocacy

Our Family and Victim Advocacy services are comprehensive and designed to help not only the survivor, but the family members as well. Our Family and Victim Advocates meet each person that comes to our center and stays with them while they waiting in our lobby. Our advocates work with the family from the beginning and throughout the healing process with many aspects including but not limited to: Crime Victim’s Rights and Responsibilities information, assistance completing Crime Victim’s Compensation forms, referrals to other resources that might be needed, preparing for court, and so much more. We have a full time Chaplain available to work with children and families as needed for help in dealing with spiritual needs.

All services provided at
Meridian & Philadelphia locations

Prevention & Education Programming

We provide customized trainings/workshops by request on a wide variety of topics such as mandated reporting, human trafficking, faith and child abuse/sexual assault, and more. We partner with Meridian Community College to provide FORECAST training simulations and with The CARE Lodge to provide community FORECAST simulations to help train and educate first responders and future professionals who will work with children in various settings such as school teachers, nurses, law enforcement, attorneys, etc.

“The forensic interviewer made my daughter feel safe”

— Anonymous

Superhero Room

We believe that Superheroes come in all different shapes and sizes. That is why we have our very own Superhero room for children, teen, and adults. This room is filled with Superhero décor and provides an opportunity for every child, teen, and adult to take a photo in whatever Superhero gear they chose while they are at our center. Every child that comes to our center is offered the opportunity to take a photo that they can take with them as well as a Superhero themed keepsake. We give each person the option of leaving anonymous messages for our Superhero message wall so that others who enter our center can read these encouraging messages and know that we are all in this together and that there is hope and healing. Some of our favorite photos from the Superhero room include our adult child abuse professionals posing in their favorite Superhero gear.

“The therapist helped our family get through such a difficult time”