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Advocacy center recognizes key leaders
Kelsey Kruzich/Staff Writer - Tania Cordobes, a music therapist at the Children's Advocacy Center, receives an award for her work.
By Kelley Chambers, kchambers@acnpapers.com
Stephanie South was looking for a charity to support when she moved to Collin County in 1998. She met her destiny when she came to the Children's Advocacy Center of Collin County.
Today, the State Farm agent is a board member and one of the center's most prized leaders, having helped raise almost $2 million over the years.
"I came in for a tour and never left," South said. "I just don't want to see any child not get help, that's all I've ever wanted."
Located in east Plano, the CAC is a nonprofit agency providing "safety, healing and justice" to abused and neglected children through a highly integrated team of local law and governmental agencies and medical and therapeutic providers. Over the years, the center has proven to reduce the trauma associated with reporting child abuse while holding offenders accountable.
The CAC has gained national recognition for its rural child abuse task force and for the work of its Internet crimes detectives. Since its founding in 1992, nearly 40,000 children have received services through the CAC, which boasts a 96 percent conviction rate. The center also has plans to open a satellite office in the northern part of the county later this year.
"This day celebrates you and the work you do every day on behalf of children," CAC CEO Lynne McLean told award recipients. "This would not have happened without the leadership of our board and the support of the civic leaders in our community, also, who believed in this from the very beginning. Today, this is all about you who make it happen, because we can't do it alone."
Offering services to 100 percent of children identified as victims of abuse in Collin County, the CAC is a child-friendly environment with no waiting lists and is free of charge. There are more than 700 such advocacy centers nationwide, 64 of which are in Texas. However, the facility in Plano stands out among the rest for its effectiveness and community support.
Keynote speaker Victor Vieth said the CAC has become a model for advocacy centers throughout the U.S. -- as it was the first to video record statements -- as well as have the ability to bring an entire community together behind its cause.
"I want the community to understand how cutting edge the [center] is, it's clearly one of the best in the country," said Vieth, executive director of the National Child Protection Training Center in Winona, Minn. "Some of the most of cutting-edge reforms implemented across the country have been implemented here."
Tania Cordobes received the CAC and Medical award for her work as the center's music therapist. For the past 10 and a half years, her skills allowed her to be the primary therapist at the center for children who have experienced abuse, their siblings and non-offending parents.
Music therapy has proven to be a much more effective form of rehabilitation as opposed to the more traditional forms of therapy due to its ability to relate to children through creativity, Cordobes said. The CAC utilizes other forms of alternative therapies such as art and other familiar mediums to aid in the healing process.
"The traditional ways we think about therapy -- or sitting down and talking to someone -- do not cater to kids," Cordobes said. "This gives us another piece to the puzzle, another outlet for kids to express their feelings. We're not teaching kids about music, we are working toward therapeutic goals through music."
Cordobes, who brought her mother to the event, said she had been nominated several times for an award, but to finally win the recognition was a high honor.
"It's very humbling really, because I feel everyone I work with is equally deserving," Cordobes said. "There's a real spirit of camaraderie here, we help each other deal with a very hard subject all day long."
The Launch Agency received the Eagle Award, which is given to an individual, company or group that has made a dramatic impact on the CAC over a short period of time. For the past nine years, the Carrollton-based advertising agency has worked pro bono for the CAC and is responsible for creating the center's new logo and tagline, as well as vamping up its website.
"We do work for places like Sam's Club and Park Place so we spend a lot of time with companies like these, but we actually get to be near something completely different here," said Ryan Ingram, a copywriter for the Launch Agency. "That's why we don't mind donating our time to something like this; we really enjoy being a part of it."
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