April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center is calling for action from community members to stand up to child abuse.
Statistics show 1 in 5 children will be sexually abused, often by someone they know and trust. DCAC says the recognition and prevention of child abuse in North Texas is more essential than ever before.
The group in Dallas that helps victims of child abuse says 2020 was a "record breaking" year for the number of cases. The Dallas Children's Advocacy Center helped more than 8,000 clients last year.
Murphey Sears with the organization says the COVID-19 pandemic made it even more difficult to track cases because many kids who were being abused had limited options to find help.
Murphey Sears, Chief Development Officer at Dallas Children's Advocacy Center joined KRLD's Kristin Diaz and David Rancken and spoke about the record setting year they recorded of clients served during the pandemic despite an initial drop in reported cases.
Sears encourages the community to get educated on how to prevent child abuse and how to report it, through their online portal at www.dcac.org.