Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) Child Protection Center
SafePath Children's Advocacy Center
Address: 2221 Austell Road, Suite B, Marietta GA 30008
Phone: 770-801-3469
Fax: 770-801-3468
Mission: The mission of SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc. is
to reduce the trauma of child victims and their non-offending caregivers by
facilitating a comprehensive multi-disciplinary team approach to intervention,
investigation, prosecution, and treatment of alleged child sexual and severe
physical abuse.
Background: In April of 1983, a group of concerned citizens and human
service agencies met to form the Coalition for Child Abuse Prevention, Inc.
(CCAP) a private non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the prevention
of child abuse. In 1990, the Coalition for Child Abuse Prevention (CCAP) was
made aware of the potential need for a child advocacy center in Cobb County.
CCAP researched the concept, assessed the community need and organized the
community to work on the project.
That same year, the agencies involved with the intervention and investigation of
child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse began to meet to begin assessing
the criminal justice system’s approach to these cases. The assessment revealed
that each separate agency was accountable for its own part of the intervention
investigation, prosecution, and/or treatment without much collaboration or
cooperation. Often vital information was not being shared between agencies and
victims. The victims themselves were actually being re-traumatized by the lack
of coordination amongst the mandated agencies. The assessment revealed the need
for a more collaborative and effective approach to child sexual abuse and severe
physical abuse cases. The result of these efforts was the development of
SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center, a program of the Coalition for Child
Abuse Prevention, Inc. (CCAP).
SafePath officially opened its doors in 1996. In 2000, SafePath became an
independent private non-profit 501(c)(3)organization, incorporating CCAP as the
prevention arm of SafePath.