Safe Horizon Bronx Child Advocacy Center or BX-CAC is a 13,000 square foot facility for child victims of domestic violence. Safe Horizon, a city-funded agency, is the largest provider of free services for victims of domestic violence and child abuse in the country. 

The Bronx CAC is a co-located facility. This means that all of the agencies involved in the assessment and treatment of domestic violence and abuse- counselors, medical team, Administration for Child Services, NYPD Child Abuse Squad and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office- are all housed within the CAC. This type of facility has now become the national model for Child Advocacy Centers.

We had the task of organizing all of the agencies into one cohesive program, which ensured that the victims were never made to feel uncomfortable and streamlined this uncomfortable process by having these agencies working side by side. While the victims are being treated on one side of the facility, suspected perpetrators are led into a NYPD substation via a separate entrance and are interrogated on the other side. 

A conscious effort was made to scale the reception area and treatment rooms to the size of a child (on average the CAC client is between the ages of 6-10 years old) by providing continuous, painted motifs at child height. 

The CAC is designed as a community-based model for assisting those most vulnerable to domestic violence - children.