Madison County Child Advocacy Center hosting open house on Dec. 1

An open house for the Madison County Child Advocacy Center (CAC) will be held from 2-7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1.

The Madison County CAC opened in 2003 and has provided more than 3,500 forensic interviews for local children who are the victims of sexual assaults or physical abuse.

More than 400 interviews have been conducted so far in 2011, according to a statement issued by the CAC.

Interviews are conducted in a child-friendly setting by trained forensic interviewers. All interviews are recorded in order to reduce the number of times a child has to speak about his or her abuse.

In addition to interviewing children and promoting child abuse education within the community, the CAC also provides referral services for families needing additional medical and mental health treatment.

The office is located at 101 East Edwardsville Road, Wood River, and can be reached at (618) 296-5390.