Austin’s Center for Child Protection Offers a Path to Healing

Behind the doors of Austin’s Center for Child Protection, the work is difficult by nature, but the environment is carefully designed to help children feel safe. Despite the warm spaces, gardens and playful programs, very complex challenges take place daily within these walls. As Travis County’s only nonprofit involved in the investigation and prosecution of crimes against children, the Center brings CPS, law enforcement, prosecutors, medical professionals and therapists together to create a coordinated response and compassionate path forward for children who have experienced abuse.

This model was born out of tragedy. In the late 1980s, several child deaths shook Austin, including that of two-year-old Christopher Wohlers. His case exposed devastating communication gaps between agencies. Despite being hospitalized and reported for multiple counts of suspected abuse, the system at the time couldn’t save Wohlers. Still, his story inspired the creation of the Center for Child Protection and the collaborative Travis County Child Protection Team, uniting agencies to safeguard children.

A safe space

Today, the Center serves approximately three to five new children each day who have either been abused or have witnessed a violent crime. To spare children from recounting a traumatic experience to multiple agencies, a specially trained professional conducts the child’s interview and shares it with everyone involved in the case. The Center’s rooms are welcoming rather than clinical, and interviewers may use drawings, photographs or dolls when words alone aren’t enough. 

The Center also houses a medical clinic led by a pediatrician board-certified in child abuse through a collaboration with Dell Children’s Medical Center and their CARE (Child Abuse Resource and Education) Program.

Therapy is offered free to children and their families, and it often extends beyond traditional talk therapy. Through movement and sensory-based activities such as gardening, yoga and music, the goal is ultimately to help children understand that trauma is something they experienced, not something that defines them. The Center also offers group therapy events including a theater performance, fun run and challenge course.

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The Center for Child Protection offers free therapy to children and their families, including activities such as gardening, yoga and music. (Photo courtesy of the Center for Child Protection)

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Volunteers support the Center for Child Protection by assembling kits and birthday boxes, welcoming families and helping at events. (Photo courtesy of the Center for Child Protection)

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Through its Teddy Bear Tuesday campaign, the Center for Child Protection collects stuffed animals for children visiting for forensic interviews or medical appointments. (Photo courtesy of the Center for Child Protection)

The tools to heal

For the children taking part in these programs, the Center’s PR & Communications Manager, Genesis Moncada, said, “They have all experienced something traumatic. Our goal is to reduce that trauma and help them heal. Experiential therapy helps children reconnect with their bodies, rebuild confidence and reestablish healthy relationships with other people.” 

As for parents of the children, Moncada emphasized that “they are learning tools to better support their kids.” 

But the Center’s work extends well beyond the families who walk through its doors. Education is a cornerstone of its prevention mission, and the Center offers free programming to the broader Austin community. Parents, caregivers, educators, child-serving professionals and community members can access free workshops and monthly webinars in English and Spanish on everything from body safety and preventing sexual abuse to online safety, co-regulation and the developing brain. The Center’s vision is to end the cycle of child abuse through advocacy, education and community support. As Moncada added, “The only way we can decrease our (case) numbers is by educating the community.” So taking part in their webinars, sharing them with local moms groups and teachers, etc. will help spread valuable information to make Austin a safer city for children.

The Center encourages adults to learn how to recognize warning signs, create safe environments and have age-appropriate conversations with children about boundaries and safety. For parents navigating a generation growing up online, the Center also offers resources on social media, technology and digital risks.

A giving spirit

As the holidays approach, the Center is asking the Austin community to participate in that same spirit of care during its annual Teddy Bear Tuesday campaign on Dec. 1, 2026. The community helps provide a new stuffed animal to every child arriving for a forensic interview or medical appointment. Last year, 1,729 children came through the Center — nearly 2,000 stuffed animals are needed each year.

“Every nonprofit does Giving Tuesday, but we do our own spin on it, calling it Teddy Bear Tuesday,” shared Moncada. “So for every child that comes to the Center and is so brave for telling their story, we give them a teddy bear.” She adds that each one is “a little reminder that there’s hope and healing after they leave the Center. And it’s not as scary as it was. ‘You were brave; you did it.’”

Additionally, for Austin’s philanthropic community, the Center’s mission has also become a fixture on the social calendar. Its signature fundraiser, “Dancing with the Stars Austin,” returns Dec. 5 for its 20th anniversary at the JW Marriott, bringing local celebrities, professional dancers, a red carpet and black-tie glamour together in support of children and families. 

Yet involvement with the Center doesn’t require donning a sparkly gown — or even a monetary donation. Vanessa Maldonado, Chief Development Officer, emphasized the important role of the Center’s volunteers: “There’s always an opportunity for someone to be involved. It doesn’t necessarily have to be on the program side to feel like it’s making an impact. There are so many ways to come and volunteer and feel like, ‘I helped them. I played a role in helping children in my community.’” Volunteers can lend their time at events, help with behind-the-scenes projects, support the Kids Closet and toy room, assemble kits and birthday boxes or help welcome families to the Center. 

“We want people to come here and see why we love working here so much,” Maldonado said. “And then tell somebody else about the Center.” Because sometimes the most meaningful way to help is to understand the work — and carry its message of hope a little further.

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