IF YOU ARE AFRAID YOUR INTERNET MIGHT BE MONITORED, CALL OUR HOTLINE 888-621-0047
Hill Country Crisis Council specializes in helping victims of abuse
Below you’ll find information on how
victims of abuse can find resources
for help, and education you can share
to help us with our ultimate goal; abuse prevention.
Click the boxes below to read about our services. Click the "read more" link to quickly scroll to that section for more information.
Kids’ Advocacy Place (KAP) uses a multi-agency approach to the investigation, intervention, and
coordination of services for children and families affected by emotional, physical and sexual abuse or neglect. Our facility includes a staff of highly skilled and specially trained individuals who work closely with the Department of Family and Protective Services, law enforcement organizations, as well as other agencies involved in investigating and prosecuting these sensitive cases. read more
Our Emergency Shelter offers men, women and children a short-term safe and secure environment to escape from the hand of domestic violence. read more
A protection order is an order used by a court to protect a person, business, company, establishment, or entity, and the general public, in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. read more
About Kids' Advocacy Place (KAP)
Kids’ Advocacy Place (KAP) uses a multi-agency approach to the investigation, intervention, and
coordination of services for children and families affected by emotional, physical and sexual abuse or neglect. Our facility includes a staff of highly skilled and specially trained individuals who work closely with the Department of Family and Protective Services, law enforcement organizations, as well as other agencies involved in investigating and prosecuting these sensitive cases.
KAP serves 5 counties including, Kerr, Bandera, Gillespie, Kendall, and Kimble. KAP primarily serves children under the age of 18 who have been the victim of sexual abuse, severe physical abuse, neglect or witness to a violent crime. Children are referred through the agencies that are mandated to receive reports of child abuse: Child Protective Services, local law enforcement, and prosecution (County/District Attorney).
Approximately 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before their 18th birthday. Child abuse affects children and families across all socioeconomic, ethnic, and racial boundaries. Additionally, 1 in 5 children is sexually solicited on the internet. Only 1 in 10 children will tell someone about their abuse. 95% of children are abused by someone they know and trust. Kids’ Advocacy Place serves on average over 350 children per year.
Forensic Interview
When a concern arises that a child has endured abuse, a forensic interview is the best way to gather information pertaining to the allegation. A forensic interview is an objective, non-leading, legally defensible and age-appropriate, information-gathering process. Forensic interviews reduce trauma experienced by child victims by reducing the number of times they have to talk about what happened to them.
The interview is conducted by someone trained in latest forensic interviewing techniques, child development and linguistics, and will take place in one of our age-appropriate interview rooms. The interview will be recorded and observed by law enforcement and/or child protective services who are part of the KAP multidisciplinary team. This allows investigators who are assigned to help your family ask the forensic interviewer additional questions that can clarify information and reduce the times a child will have to be interviewed. As a result, all members of the multidisciplinary team obtain the information needed to proceed on behalf of the child.
Our interviewers and advocates attend multiple continuing education trainings each year to ensure that they remain current on the best practices and methods related to forensic investigations, child welfare, family support and child development.
Family Advocacy
A family advocate helps families with children who have been abused or are at risk of abuse. Families are greeted by a family advocate at KAP and given a tour of the interview room. During the advocacy process, the advocate explains the process of an interview, talks about counseling services, goes over the judicial process, helps explain Crime Victims Compensation and Texas Crime Victims Rights and helps with additional resources the family may need. The family advocate will help support the family through the life of the child’s case.
Multi-Disciplinary Team
A multidisciplinary team (MDT) is the foundation of a Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC). An MDT is a group of professionals from specific, distinct disciplines that collaborates from the point of report and throughout a child and family’s involvement with the CAC. MDTs coordinate intervention so as to reduce potential trauma to children and families and improve services overall, while preserving and respecting the rights, mandates and obligations of each agency. The Kid’s Advocacy Place MDT includes representatives from the following partner agencies in the 5 counties we serve.
About Emergency Shelters
The Shelter is designed to provide a safe, family-friendly and pet-friendly, therapeutic environment where men, women and children can begin to heal from trauma and begin establishing self-sufficiency. The goal of the shelter is to serve as a bridge to assist residents in moving from an emergency situation to stable, appropriate housing.
The Shelter is not “just a place to stay,” but rather a stepping stone to a better life. Throughout the client’s stay, our staff offers counseling, financial education, support groups, job advocacy and help with finding permanent housing. We seek to improve our client’s life for the long-term, not just the immediate challenge. And because there is a significant correlation between domestic violence and pet abuse, HCCC offers safe shelter for women and their animals fleeing violence.
About Crisis Intervention & Advocacy
Hospital Advocacy
Every survivor who chooses to go to the hospital for a forensic exam has the right to state-certified advocate accompaniment. HCCC trains and sends advocates around the clock to meet survivors at the hospital and provide support during the exam. An advocate is dispatched when our center is contacted by the hospital telling us a survivor has arrived or is in route. Advocates stay the duration of the exam and provide support and resources to both the survivor and any loved ones who may have accompanied them.
Ways we help include: filling out paperwork, providing community resources, giving emotional support and ensuring that no one goes through the process alone.
Victim Advocacy
Survivors of crimes such as intimate partner violence and sexual assault have rights, and our advocates strive to ensure that all of these rights are upheld in the legal, financial and social processes that are secondary to surviving these crimes. Advocacy helps with criminal and civil court proceedings, with resource development and community connection.
24/7 Phone Support
Our trained advocates are ready to take your call through our in-house, 24-hour hotlines. We’re here to help, and your safety is our priority. All calls and chats are answered by a trained advocate and are completely anonymous and confidential. Everyone is welcome to call or chat—not only survivors, but also their friends and family, as well as anyone with a question about sexual assault or how to support a survivor in their own lives.
CALL 888-621-0047
About Trauma Informed Therapy
Trauma can be incredibly isolating.
Experiencing and surviving trauma affects our brains and bodies in very specific ways: confusion, inability to make a decision, feeling like everything is our fault, anxiety, hyper-vigilance, body aches, fatigue, compromised immune system, loss of sleep, nightmares… and this is just to name a few. If you are experiencing trauma or are a survivor of intimate partner violence and/or sexual assault, trauma-informed therapy can assist with getting your past in the past and helping you move forward.
You don't have to struggle anymore.
With our help, you can get your life back. Contact us now to learn more about our services that are 100% free of charge.
Get the Help You Need
Call 888-621-0047 for our support hotline. If you’re needing immediate assistance, dial 911 and ask for help.
About Safety Planning
Did you know it takes a victim an average of 7 times to leave an abusive relationship? And the most dangerous time for a victim is when they are trying to leave?
Intimate partner violence is
about power and control.
When a victim decides to leave, the abuser becomes fearful of losing control over the victim and can resort to increased aggression to coerce the victim to stay.
Safety Planning helps the victim to prepare in advance, increasing the opportunity for safety for them, their children and their pets.
Get the Help You Need
Call 888-621-0047 for our support hotline. If you’re needing immediate assistance, dial 911 and ask for help.
About Protection Orders
A protection order is an order used by a court to protect a person, business, company, establishment, or entity, and the general public, in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault
Intimate partner violence is
about power and control.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
A protection order is an official legal document signed by a judge that orders the abuser to stop abusing or threatening you and/or your children. It can also include other types of relief such as child support, custody, visitation and payment of debts. The abuser may be ordered to stay away from your home, school or place of employment. You have the right to file for a protection order if someone has abused you within the past six months (180 days) OR if they abuse or threaten to abuse any person under 18 years old now or in the future. In addition, there are several reasons why it might not be safe for you to return home after obtaining an emergency protective order including but not limited to threats made against pets and property damage done at your residence during previous incidents of violence between yourself and the abuser.
Get the Help You Need
Toll Free: 888-621-0047
We’re here 24 hours a day 7 days a week so please don’t hesitate calling us when needed! Our trained staff will help guide you through this process step-by-step with compassion and understanding while providing information about all available resources in our community that can assist victims throughout their journey toward safety & independence from abuse. We offer free confidential services including safety planning; crisis intervention counseling; court accompaniment; referrals for shelter/housing assistance