[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20278]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      CHILDREN'S ASSESSMENT CENTER

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, while walking home from school, an 
innocent 7-year-old girl was abducted and assaulted. Thankfully, the 
girl was found; but because of the trauma she experienced, she was not 
able to tell the police what happened to her.
  With the help of the Children's Assessment Center, the expertise they 
had at the center and their child-centered approach, she was able to 
disclose her experience, and the perpetrator was caught, arrested, and 
sent to jail.
  The Children's Assessment Center in my hometown of Houston, Texas, 
has served over 50,000 children since 2000 under the leadership of the 
executive director, Elaine Stolte.
  Children's Advocacy Centers, like the one in Houston, provide a place 
for the evaluation and treatment of abused children in a safe and 
friendly environment housing experts in various fields so the young 
victims are not retraumatized by the system.
  As a former prosecutor and judge, I have seen firsthand the damage 
caused by sexual assault on children. I commend the Children's 
Assessment Center in Houston and the Children's Advocacy Centers 
throughout the country for their work in healing children and their 
families.
  And that's just the way it is.

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