April is Child Abuse Prevention and Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
This observance is meant to bring awareness to survivors of abuse and to the resources available to victims across the state.
The Alabama Coalition Against Rape has established a network of rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters that are supported by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs as well as by public donations.
Jim Byard is the director of ADECA. He says Alabama’s network of child advocacy centers work closely with law enforcement.
“Most of the police departments and the sheriff’s departments, when they come in contact with a child abuse victim, they have such a partnership with their child advocacy center that they may bring that victim to the actual center, so that they’re not in a police department. As you might imagine, they’ve already been through a traumatic experience. So these folks are trained on how to deal with these victims.”
ADECA has turned their website and social media pages blue and teal in honor of the awareness month. More information on resources can be found there.