Today we’d like to introduce you to John and Leslie Tarbutton.
John and Leslie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Since moving to Atlanta, we began searching for an organization and volunteer opportunity which served the children most in need within our local community. The moment we took a tour and volunteer training with the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy (GCCA), we could not forget what we learned and knew we had to get involved. We have 3 children of our own and can appreciate how important it is to bring awareness to the issue of child abuse.
We believe the heart, soul and future of our community begins with our smallest members. By keeping our children safe from abuse with prevention and awareness, to providing love, support and therapy to those who become unfortunate victims, the GCCA supports our local children through every aspect of abuse. We can all help in even a small way and we felt the need to become stewards of the GCCA’s mission.
The GCCA provides a safe haven to children within DeKalb and Fulton counties who are victims of physical and sexual abuse. The Center’s mission is to provide therapy, intervention and prevention for these children in a safe and therapeutic environment.
Annually, over 600 forensic interviews and 800 therapy sessions are conducted. All of these services are provided at no charge to the families. The statistics on the prevalence of child sexual abuse is staggering and by our involvement, we hope to bring more awareness to the organization, and drive its mission forward
An important part of the GCCA’s mission is to provide our services at no charge to our families.
We have a staff of highly trained professionals and continue to see more and more families every year. These services can become costly, and in order to continue our mission, we must continue to make fundraising an important part of our efforts.
The Cheer for Children Gala is our largest annual fundraiser and the 22nd annual Gala will be held on October 6th, 2017. We (John and Leslie) are the hosts of the Gala this year and have worked alongside a dedicated team of volunteers who have been tirelessly working to secure sponsorship commitments and unique auction items for the event. We hope to make the 2017 Gala the most successful yet.
The children of our community who become victims of sexual abuse deserve a path to recovery and chance at moving past the abuse. By raising needed funds and continuing to provide quality forensic interviews and therapy services, we can help create a better community for all of our neighbors.
Please tell us about Georgia Center for Child Advocacy.
The services the GCCA provides are unique to DeKalb and Fulton counties. Without forensic interview services, children may be required to re-tell their story of abuse to countless law enforcement professionals, attorneys and attend many court hearings. The forensic interview aims to have the child tell their story once, and then quickly move on to the path of recovery.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Before becoming involved with the GCCA, we were unaware how pervasive child sexual abuse is within our society. Through the training the GCCA provides, we quickly became aware of how common child sexual abuse is and how devastating the consequences can be for our children. The report that 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday is heartbreaking. This training brought to light what a large issue child sexual abuse is and we had to help.
We also learned how effective prevention programs can be at stopping abuse before it starts. By creating awareness among families and caregivers, we can all become aware of unsafe situations, warning signs and do our part in preventing child sexual abuse.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://georgiacenterforchildadvocacy.org/
- Phone: 678-904-2280
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