SERVICES
Pegasus Child Advocacy Center provides a safe haven, a place where child abuse victims may deal with trauma on their own terms. The facility allows law enforcement, child protection, prosecutors, medical and mental health professionals to come together in one place and work together as a team to evaluate and investigate each case.
Coordinated Services
The Pegasus CAC invites professionals to meet with the child victim in a comfortable, friendly environment designed to ensure that the needs of the child are met. This coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach to evaluation:
- Promotes communication and cooperation between agencies
- Ensures a more efficient and complete investigation
- Keeps cases from "slipping through the cracks" of the system
- Streamlines case management and data management
- Makes follow up with families easier
- Decreases the trauma to the child victim
- Improves outcomes for victims and their families
Medical/Diagnostic Services
Diagnosis and treatment of physical and sexual abuse in a timely manner is critical to the recovery process. A forensic pediatrician is on call 24-hours a day to provide a physical exam, colposcopy, forensic evidence collection and photo documentation. Pegasus CAC provides:
- Forensic interviews which means fewer and more objective interviews
- Expert medical services assisting law enforcement in child death investigations
- Comprehensive pediatric assessments of high risk or underserved patients such as children placed in foster care, the juvenile justice system, or who have witnessed violence in their home.
Treatment Services
Adverse childhood experiences such as physical and sexual abuse, neglect and exposure to violence in the home leave lasting scars on a child's developing personality Pegasus offers a range of therapeutic options including:
- Acute trauma intervention
- Short and long-term conventional therapy
- Substance abuse counseling
- Equine assisted psychotherapy
- Child Witness to Violence program
- Out patient mental health services
Professional Education
Educational conferences taught by Pegasus staff and invited speakers for professionals in the fields of medicine, social service, law enforcement, prosecution and mental health.
Community Education
Community education concerning child abuse awareness and prevention, exposure to violence, children's mental health and delinquency issues.