About Us

The Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children began in 1976 as the Waco Rape Crisis Center, but over time, more programs and services have been added to better serve all victims of crime. The core advocacy services for survivors of sexual assault and other violent crimes comprise the Victims Center program.  In 1996, the Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) program was established to better serve children under 18 that had made an outcry of abuse, if abuse or neglect is suspected or if they had witnessed a crime and a building was purchased to house the umbrella agency.  In 2009, the agency initiated expansion of its CAC program to three additional counties with multidisciplinary teams to track and investigate child abuse in Falls, Hill and Limestone counties in collaboration with the Advocacy Center for Crime Victims and Children. Since then, the CAC has expanded to include Freestone County, as well.  In January 2011, the Prevention and Education program was added to the umbrella and offers education related to preventing sexual violence in our communities. Program goals include increasing interventions to change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors supportive of all sexual violence, reducing the tolerance of and mobilizing the community to reduce sexual violence, and reducing the norms that support sexual violence.  The umbrella structure for the organization has proven effective in efficiently providing a continuum of care for crime victims in our community.