Government and community in Fort Myers, FL

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MISSION Our mission is to improve the lives of children and their families through a coordinated response to child abuse and neglect. In 1978, Florida's Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services recognized the need for specialized child-friendly services to assist in child abuse and neglect investigations, and developed Child Protection Teams under the auspices of Children's Medical Services. The teams were developed to provide medically directed, multidisciplinary assessments to assist in the identification of maltreatment and the assessment of risk. In 1985, the National Children's Advocacy Center movement began and soon the concept of advocacy centers emerged in Florida. These centers provided child-friendly settings where investigations could occur and where treatment and prosecution plans could be designed. They also became sites for development of preventive strategies to reduce incidence of child abuse. The first Children's Advocacy Center in Florida opened in 1994, in Daytona Beach, serving Volusia and Flagler Counties. The Children's Advocacy Center was formed in 2001. Today there are 22 Children's Advocacy Centers in the state.