Children's assessment center & child abuse

​Last month, Houston Angels was invited to speak at a virtual continuing education workshop hosted by the Children's Assessment Center.⁠ The Children's Assessment Center works to prevent, assess, investigate, and treat child sexual abuse in Houston. During the workshop, our Director of Programs, Hannah, explained how their multidisciplinary team members can access the services that Houston Angels provides to vulnerable children and families in Houston.

"We all want to believe that our children are safe and that we can protect them from harm, but child sexual abuse is real, and recovery begins with the truth." - Children's assessment center

​When it comes to child sexual abuse:

• The median age for child sexual abuse is 9 years old⁠
• 1 in 5 children will be solicited sexually while online⁠
• Only 1 in 10 children will disclose abuse⁠
• Family and acquaintance child sexual abuse perpetrators have reported that they intentionally look for passive, quiet, troubled, lonely children from single parent or broken homes⁠

Sexual abuse is one of several reasons that a child could be removed from his or her home and placed into foster care. And the risk doesn't end there - unfortunately, children in foster care are still vulnerable to further abuse. According to the CAC, children living without either parent (in foster care) are 10x more likely to be sexually abused than children that live with two biological parents.⁠
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But it doesn't have to be this way - and we're grateful to work alongside so many incredible local organizations, like the CAC, that care for our community's most vulnerable. 
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https://cachouston.org/sexual-abuse/child-sexual-abuse-facts/