Our History
In 1995, Arkansas’s first Children’s Advocacy Center opened its doors, marking the beginning of a coordinated approach to supporting children affected by abuse. Since then, the movement has grown across the state, expanding access to compassionate care, advocacy, and healing.
2020+
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2025: CACar hires Program Manager for MDT and Training
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2025: CACar, in collaboration with the MDT Oversight Committee and statewide partners, develops and publishes the first Arkansas Model Multidisciplinary Team Protocol, establishing best-practice guidelines for Arkansas's child abuse response.
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2024: CACar rebrands annual fundraising dinner as Inspiration Gala
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2024: CACar, with the generous support of Attorney General Tim Griffin, builds a comprehensive statewide database to track the work of ARMDT
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2023: CACar creates Information Technology Operation Manager position
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2023: ARMDT launches the Mission and Vision tour to align MDTs across the state with collective values.
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2022: CACar hires Director of CAC Initiatives
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2021: CACar hires Director of MDT Project
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2021: CACar advocates for legislative reforms that elevate Arkansas to the national standard for child abuse response. Act 975, now signed into law, transfers oversights of the MDT to CACar--offically establishing the ARMDT.
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2020: CACar receives TANF funding, uses funds to create subgrants for CACs, hire a Grants Administrator, and create policies for oversight and compliance.
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2020: CACar develops a statewide database to standardize reporting for all CACs
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2020: Two CACs open additional locations statewide: Central Arkansas Children’s Advocacy Center of Van Buren in Clinton, AR, Children’s Advocacy Center of Western Benton County in Gentry, AR
2010-2019
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2019: CACar receives first federal VOCA funding, uses funds to create a statewide CAC database and launch a statewide public child abuse awareness and response campaign.
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2019: CACar hires first Development Specialist position
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2019: Grandma’s House Children’s Advocacy Center expands with an additional location in Baxter County
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2018: CACar moves the State Chapter office to the Union Plaza Building downtown Little Rock
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2018: Two CACs open additional locations statewide: Children’s Advocacy Center of Monticello in Drew County, Cooper- Anthony Mercy Children’s Advocacy Center of Saline County in Benton, AR
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2017: River Valley Children’s Advocacy Center in Russellville AR established.
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2017: Children’s Advocacy Center of Independence County in Batesville, AR established
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2017: Children’s Advocacy Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado, AR is established.
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2015: Three CACs open additional locations statewide: Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center of Howard County in Nashville, AR, Cooper- Anthony Mercy Children’s Advocacy Center of Mena in Polk County, Mending Hearts Child Safety Center of Forrest Cit in St. Francis county
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2015: CACar creates of the Woman of Inspiration Gala , and becomes First Lady of Arkansas, Susan Hutchinson's official platform
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2017: First Chapter Office is establish in North Little Rock.
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2011: Percy and Donna Malone Child Safety Center in Arkadelphia, AR established.
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2011: CACar hosts the first Child Protection Luncheon, honoring Dr. Jerry G. Jones with the new annual Senator Percy Malone Child Protection Award
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2010: Grandma’s House Children’s Advocacy Center expands with a new primary location in Harrison, AR.
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2010: Central Arkansas Children’s Advocacy Center in Conway AR is established.
2000-2009
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2009: CACar creates a part-time Executive Director position
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2009: Grandma’s House Children’s Advocacy Center of Carroll County in Berryville, AR - became a satellite 2010\
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2008: Wade Knox Children’s Advocacy Center Opens Additional Location in Brinkley, AR
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2008: Northeast Arkansas Children’s Advocacy Center in Jonesboro, AR is established.
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2007: Child Safety Center of White County in Searcy, AR is established
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2007: Hamilton Center for Children’s Advocacy in Fort Smith, AR is established
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2006: Children’s Protection Center in Little Rock, AR is established
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2006: CACar Bylaws and membership policies are established
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2005: Wade Knox Children’s Advocacy Center in Lonoke, AR is established
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2004: Grandma’s House Children’s Advocacy Center in Berryville, AR is established.
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2003: Children's Advocacy Center of Eastern Arkansas in West Memphis, AR is established. This center reopened in 2022 as Mending Hearts Child Safety Center
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2003: The Arkansas Association of Children's Advocacy Centers changes its name to The Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas (CACar) State Chapter in Little Rock, AR becoming incorporated to represent Arkansas' network of CACs.
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2003: The Arkansas Association of Children's Advocacy Centers changes its name to The Children's Advocacy Centers of Arkansas (CACar) State Chapter in Little Rock, AR becoming incorporated to represent Arkansas' network of CACs.
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2000: The Children and Family Advocacy Center of Benton County in Little Flock, AR is established.
1885-1999
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1999: Arkansas Association of Children's Advocacy Centers is established to coordinate services between the state's three CACs
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1996: Children’s Safety Center of Washington County in Springdale, AR is established.
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1996: Texarkana Children's Advocacy Center in Texarkana, AR is established.
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1995: The Children's Advocacy Center of Southeast Arkansas files for a 501(c)3 to start Arkansas' first Child Advocacy Center
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1985: In 1985, Alabama prosecutor, Robert "Bud" Cramer organizes the CAC Model, starting a movement across the nation in child welfare. Cramer went on to establish the National Children's Advocacy Center in Huntsville, AL, and served 18 years as a US Representative for Alabama's 5th District.
Privacy Policy
Our privacy policy below explains what user information we collect and exactly how we use it.
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
When you visit our website or social media pages, we may collect the following information:
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Information about your computer and about your visits to our social media pages or website (these are information about your browser, your IP address, your general location as determined from your IP address and provided by your browser, the site from which you come, and the links followed when leaving our site). This information is also collected through cookies
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Information about how you view our content. When you conduct activities on our social media pages or website (for example, when you read particular content) we collect general information about your location, the device you’re using at the time, from where you arrived on our page and so on.
HOW IS THE INFORMATION USED?
We use this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:
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To communicate marketing messages, newsletters and details of our business or the businesses of carefully-selected third parties which we think may be of interest to you by post or email or similar technology (you can inform us at any time if you no longer require marketing communications).
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From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes or to customize the website according to your interests.
Your information will not be disclosed to any third party unless you have given your consent to such disclosure. You may at any time ask us to refrain from sending you marketing messages, and the details for doing so will be provided in the message.
We may disclose aggregate statistics about our site visitors, clients and sales in order to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers and other reputable third parties and for other lawful purposes, but these statistics will include no personally identifying information.
UNDERSTANDING COOKIES AND LOG FILES
COOKIES
Cookies are text files stored on your computer, and accessible only to the websites which create them. Our website may from time to time use cookies and log files for statistical analysis, to understand user behavior, to administer the site, to tailor the information presented to a user based on their preferences, and to improve user experience. Any information gathered by our use of cookies is compiled on an aggregate, anonymous basis.
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, however you may delete or disable cookies. Please note that you may not be able to take full advantage of a website if you disable cookies, and disabling cookies may impair your user experience.
SOCIAL MEDIA
If you share our content through social media, for example by liking us on Facebook, or by following or tweeting about us on Twitter, those social networks will record that you have done so and may set a cookie for this purpose. In some cases, where a page on our website includes content from a social network, such as a Twitter feed, or Facebook comments box, those services may set a cookie even where you do not click a button. As is the case for all cookies, we cannot access those set by social networks, just as those social networks cannot access cookies we set ourselves.
LOG FILES
Our systems automatically gather some anonymous information about visitors, including IP addresses, browser type, language, and the times and dates of webpage visits. The data collected does not include personally identifiable information and is used, as described above, for statistical analysis, to understand user behavior, and to administer the site.
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Our website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). The information generated by the cookie about your use of our website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of our website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google’s behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. Further information about Google’s privacy policy may be obtained from http://www.google.com/privacy.html.
SECURITY
The internet is not a secure medium. However we take reasonable technical and organizational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information. We have put in place various security procedures as set out in this policy. For example, our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorized personnel have access to user information. Whilst we cannot ensure or guarantee that loss, misuse or alteration of data will not occur, we use our best efforts to prevent this.
CHANGES
We may make changes to this privacy policy from time to time. If we change our privacy policy we will post the changes on this page. If the change in our privacy policy affects the use of your personal information we will use our best endeavors to contact you by email to seek your consent to the use. Continued use of the service will signify that you agree to any such changes.
YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY
If you do not agree to this privacy policy, please do not use our site.
By using our site, you consent to the collection and use of information by us. Owing to the global nature of the internet infrastructure, the information you provide may be transferred in transit to countries outside the European Economic Area that do not have similar protections in place regarding your data and its use as set out in this policy. However, we have taken the steps outlined above to try to improve the security of your information. By submitting your information you consent to these transfers.
HOW TO CONTACT US
We welcome your views about our website and our privacy policy. If you would like to contact us with any queries or comments, visit our contact page.
2000-2009
2000
The Children and Family Advocacy Center of Benton County in Little Flock, AR was established.
2001
The Merlin Foundation established a CAC program in Green Forest, AR.
2003
The Cooper-Anthony Mercy Children’s Advocacy Center in Hot Springs, AR was established by Mercy Health.
2003
The Arkansas Association of Children’s Advocacy Centers was renamed Children’s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas (CACar) to represent the state’s network of CACs.
2005
The Wade Knox Children’s Advocacy Center in Lonoke, AR was established.
2006
The Children's Advocacy Center of Eastern Arkansas in West Memphis, AR was established under the umbrella of Mid-south Health System.
2006
The Children’s Protection Center in Little Rock, AR was established.
2007
Senator Percy Malone secured dedicated state funding for CACs and MDTs through The Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence.
2007
The Texarkana Child Advocacy Center in Texarkana, TX began serving children in Arkansas.
2007
The Child Safety Center of White County in Searcy, AR was established.
2008
The Northeast Arkansas Children’s Advocacy Center in Jonesboro, AR was established.
2010-2019
2010
The Central Arkansas Children’s Advocacy Center in Conway, AR was established.
2011
CACar hosted its first Child Protection Luncheon, honoring Dr. Jerry G. Jones with the inaugural annual Senator Percy Malone Child Protection Award.
2011
The Percy and Donna Malone Child Safety Center in Arkadelphia, AR was established.
2015
CACar established its first state chapter office in North Little Rock.
2015
CACar launched the Woman of Inspiration Gala, which became the official platform of Arkansas First Lady Susan Hutchinson.
2017
The Children’s Advocacy Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado, AR was established.
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2017
The Children’s Advocacy Center of Independence County in Batesville, AR was established.
2017
The River Valley Children’s Advocacy Center in Russellville, AR was established.
2018
The CACar office relocated to the Union Plaza Building in downtown Little Rock.
2020+
2024
The Ouachita Child Safety Center in Mena, AR was established.
2021
CACar became the statewide provider of ChildFirst® Arkansas, a nationally recognized forensic interview training program for professionals responding to child abuse, in partnership with the Zero Abuse Project.
2021
The Mending Hearts Child Safety Center was established in West Memphis, AR, replacing the Children’s Advocacy Center of Eastern Arkansas.
2024
With the generous support of Attorney General Tim Griffin, CACar expanded Collaborate to include Arkansas Multidisciplinary Teams (AR•MDTs), enabling the organization to track and report the impact of both CACs and MDTs across the state.
2020
CACar implemented Collaborate, the first statewide database for Arkansas’ CACs, creating a unified platform for standardized data collection, case tracking, reporting and statewide coordination to strengthen the multidisciplinary response to child abuse.
2021
CACar advocated for legislative reforms to align Arkansas with national standards for child abuse response. Act 975 was subsequently signed into law by Governor Asa Hutchinson, transferring oversight of the Arkansas MDT Project to CACar and formally establishing AR•MDT.
2021
The MDT Oversight Committee was established to provide statewide leadership, strengthen MDT practices and promote a consistent, child-centered response to child abuse across Arkansas.
2024
CACar rebranded its annual fundraising event as the Inspiration Gala, formerly the Woman of Inspiration Gala, and honored Attorney General Tim Griffin with the Inspire Award.
