For 30 Years, Baltimore Agency Has Helped To Counsel Abused Children

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- For three decades, the Baltimore Child Abuse Center has helped treat traumatic experiences in the city's youngest victims. It recently helped pass a law in Maryland that requires schools to show abused children where to get help.

Gigi Barnett has more.

"I felt like she had just been very, very betrayed," said Laurie Baker, recounting the day she learned her daughter had been sexually abused by a family member.

"You're sort of in shock. You can't believe what you're hearing. It was a lot," Baker said.

Her daughter, Taylor, now 16, was nine-years-old at the time. She spent years in therapy.

When they visited the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, or BCAC for short, in the city, something was different right away.

"From the minute you walk off the elevator, the person greets you with a smile. Everyone here is completely knowledgeable," said Baker.

"Adults can relax, kids can play -- and that's what gets them feeling comfortable enough to say what happened to them," said Adam Rosenberg, executive director, BCAC.

Rosenberg says the center gets more than 85 percent of its funds from private donations and government grants. For 30 years, prosecutors, police and social workers have turned to the agency to counsel abused children.

Recently, BCAC was instrumental in getting Erin's Law passed in Maryland. It's a law that requires school districts to teach students how to protect themselves from all kinds of abuse and how to get help.

Rosenberg says there's so much more work to do.

"Erin's Law is the first of many laws that need to be changed here in Maryland to make sure that when children have been victims, they'll get the help that they need as quickly as possible," he said.

If you'd like to attend the center's "Be A Hero" fundraiser on Friday, May 13, at Pazo's Restaurant, CLICK HERE.