Child Safety Center

09/05/2026

Later this fall we will begin serving families in our Heber Springs location and we NEED your help!

🛍️As you are online shopping the Labor Day sales, would you please consider purchasing items from our Amazon Wish List? Your gift will help stock our new expanded location while keeping critical funds focused on providing the vital services for the children in Cleburne county and surrounding communities.

🌟Purchasing needn't be all on your own. This could be a GROUP EFFORT: Grab a group of friends, a group of colleagues, an exercise group, a Sunday school class or a church small group.

✨Over many years now, we have seen the impact that occurs when people, agencies, and communities JOIN together and work collectively to SUPPORT, SERVE, and HELP children.

Will you join us in the work to Empower, Protect and Restore Children?

💙Amazon Wish List link in the comments.

09/02/2026

What do you see?

At first glance, it merely looks like a sweet picture of a child with a dog. One might even think ordinary. Yet we at CSC know it is far from ordinary. If you look closely you notice a "work" vest on Enzo.

Enzo is our service dog here at CSC. He wears a blue work vest and his "job" is to be with and beside children who are currently or in their past experienced child abuse. His presence is steadfast and offers comfort and safety.

We know Enzo impacts the lives of MANY children but when we see a child's drawing of a sweet and seemingly simple picture like this, we are grateful for just how large that impact is in EACH child.

So look again. Do you see it?

Do you see the Love, the Safety, the Comfort this 7 year old child felt with Enzo?

Powerful, isn't it?

08/31/2026

Join us in wishing a Happy Birthday to one of our incredible victim advocates, Tracy Donitzen!

🏫With a long history of teaching elementary students, Tracy transitioned smoothly into the work she does here every day with kids and families. She is filled with compassion, fiercely seeks justice, and is unwavering in her efforts to advocate for those in need of support and resources.

🌟Everyone on our staff would agree that Tracy has been a wonderful addition to our team and a true asset to the work we do. She brings passion, excitement, and dedication to everything she does. 🌟

Outside of work, Tracy enjoys traveling🧳, long car rides🚙, movie nights🎞️, spontaneous excursions, solo trips, concerts🎸, and, most of all, quality time 🕰️with her friends and family.

👀If you pay close attention, you will probably notice her quietly humming or singing throughout the day.🎶 She is quick to laugh😆 at anything and everything, bringing an extra bit of joy 😊to our everyday lives as her coworkers. Tracy connects🔗 quickly with others, especially the families she helps, and always seems to find a way to relate, empathize, and make people feel understood.💙
We’re lucky🍀 to have her on our team, and if you know Tracy, you know that it’s always good to have her in your corner.

Tracy, we hope you feel celebrated and appreciated today because you truly deserve it! Happy Birthday!🎁🎉🥳

08/28/2026

A huge thank you to Tina Moore with Allstate Insurance for bringing refreshing drinks to our staff! Your kindness and thoughtfulness brightened our day. 🌞

We are thankful to have a community that supports us. We truly appreciate you thinking of our team! 💙

08/27/2026

We've rounded out our Child and Family Advocate team with the addition of Victoria Hutcherson this month! 💙

Victoria was born in Columbia, Tennessee and moved to Searcy to attend college. With a background in Education and Professional School Counseling, Victoria has had the opportunity to work in a variety of roles supporting children. These experiences have strengthened her passion for helping others and helped prepare her for this new role!

When asked about what she's looking forward to in this new role, Victoria shared, "I am looking forward to working in such an incredible environment alongside a team of strong, encouraging, and experienced professionals who will help me learn and grow in my new role as an advocate and as a person. I am so excited for the opportunity to help make a positive difference in our community!"

When she's not at the CSC, Victoria enjoys spending time with her friends, walking with her husband and her dogs, 🐕tackling home improvement projects🛠️ or fun crafts around the house, and playing pickleball 🏓and board games.

Her goal for the near future is to return to Italy🛫, where she studied abroad and got engaged! 💍

We're so excited to welcome Victoria to the CSC family and grateful for the passion she brings in empowering children and families! ✨

08/26/2026

🏓✨ MARK YOUR CALENDARS — WE’RE MOVING THE DATE! ✨🏓

We have some exciting news about our 4th Annual Play It Forward Pickleball Tournament!

After listening to our pickleball community and talking with our tournament directors, we’ve decided to move this year’s tournament to Saturday, February 27, 2027 at the Heber Springs Community Center!

And we think this new date is going to make for an even more fun day on the courts! 💙

Because our tournament is indoors, February is the perfect time to gather with friends and family for a day of pickleball while escaping the cold! It also means we’ll be out of the middle of fall sports season and past the busy holiday season, making it easier for more people to join us.

Our mission hasn’t changed. Every serve, rally, and match will still help us empower, protect, and restore children who have endured abuse-and this year, your participation will also help support the opening of our new Child Safety Center location in Heber Springs!

📅 Saturday, February 27, 2027
📍 Heber Springs Community Center

We’re so excited to have more time to gather our pickleball community together for an incredible day of competition, fun, fellowship, and making a difference!

If September 19th didn’t work for your schedule, we hope this new date might!

Grab your paddles, invite your friends, and Play It Forward with us this February! Link to Registration in comments 🏓💙

A huge thank you to everyone who has already registered, sponsored, shared our tournament, and supported the CSC. We are so grateful for you!

08/25/2026

AFTER HOURS

The CSC is available for "after hours" interviews, or acute situations, 24 hours a day, 363 days a year.

We only shut completely down on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. We have a rotating "on call" schedule that we all share. So there is always an interviewer, an advocate, a nurse, and a mental health provider available for these acute cases.

In 2023, we had a total of 28 "after hours" interviews; in 2024, there were 24; in 2025, there were 30.

So far in 2026, we have seen around 60 kids after hours. This is obviously a BIG jump from the past 3 years.

Why highlight this? Mostly because we are proud of this collective team of professionals who routinely show up anytime needed. It's also not only our staff, it's a number of other people from different agencies who answer the call.

Our resolve remains steadfast.

We will CONTINUE to show up because children DESERVE to tell their story, and be surrounded by support, NO MATTER what time of the day it is.

08/21/2026

We are so proud of Olivia!

Meet our 2026 Blue Ribbon Award honoree, Olivia!

The Blue Ribbon Award honors individuals who have been personally affected by the trauma of abuse and courageously share their experiences to help others better understand its impact, and Olivia is the true embodiment of this kind of resilience. At just 16 years old, Olivia has chosen to use her voice and story to speak out against child abuse and offer hope and healing to children across Arkansas.

Join Olivia in taking a stand against child abuse by giving a gift in her honor. Tap the link to learn more and donate. www.inspirationgala.com/donate.html

08/21/2026

“WHAT WILL Y'ALL DO WHEN THE WALLS FILL UP?”

Our advocates hear this question often from the children who are adding their own handprints to the wall, leaving another marker of a child we’ve had the privilege of serving.

For a long time, the answer was easy:
“We won’t have to worry about that for a long time.”
“We still have plenty of space to fill.”

This year, we have watched the paint cart drift closer and closer to the last blank panels on the wall.

Many of you may have seen our year end post from last year, where we shared about serving the most children we’d ever seen in one year. Last year, we saw 585 NEW kids, when our previous highest year was 516.

This year, we have already seen 366 new kids in the first six months.

While in previous years we had to prepare our hearts and minds to endure months when we saw a surge in cases. This year has been different.

The surge hasn’t ended, and we’ve found ourselves adjusting to a new normal.
A normal where the days are full and oftentimes the nights and weekends as well.

As the year progresses, each new day brings more children with heartbreaking stories.

✨Felicia, Ciara, and Darby sit with children while they share stories they should never have to tell.

✨Kinsey, Tracy, Sebastian, and Clara walk alongside parents whose worlds have been turned upside down.

✨Jansen, Anna, and Caitlin help children begin the long journey of healing from trauma.

✨Wendy and Tammy provide medical exams to help ensure children receive the care they need.

✨Nan visits schools, teaching children and adults about body safety, healthy boundaries, and the importance of speaking up.

✨Shannon works tirelessly with generous donors, businesses, and community partners who make this work possible.

✨Darby and Caitlin help make sure our staff have the support and resources needed to continue showing up for every child who walks through our doors.

It’s a TEAM effort. None of this work can be done on our own.

Some days are incredibly hard. As we watch our numbers grow, we find ourselves asking each other now: “What will we do when the walls fill up?”

The answer is simple. We will FIND a space. As long as there are children needing a safe space to share their stories, we WILL make room.

We will show up with hearts ready to be broken and a team strong enough to endure, because that is what EVERY CHILD DESERVES.

08/19/2026

🏓 ONE MONTH TO GO! 🏓

The countdown is officially on! In just ONE MONTH, we'll gather for our 4th Annual Play It Forward Pickleball Tournament at the beautiful Heber Springs Community Center, and we can't wait!

📅 Saturday, September 19

This year's tournament is especially meaningful as it will help support the opening of our new Child Safety Center location in Heber Springs. For the first time, children and families in Cleburne County will have a Child Safety Center right in their own community—making it easier than ever for them to receive the care, support, and hope they need after enduring abuse.

Every serve, rally, and match played helps ensure children have access to the healing services they deserve while helping us prepare our new Heber Springs location to welcome families through its doors.

💙 There's still time to register a team or become a tournament sponsor!

👕 To guarantee your tournament t-shirt—and for sponsors to be included on the participant shirts and tournament banner—please register by September 1.

➡️Registration and sponsorship information can be found in the comments.

A heartfelt thank you to our incredible Presenting Sponsor, First Security Bank, for faithfully partnering with us for the fourth consecutive year to help empower, protect, and restore children who have endured abuse.

We can't wait to see you on September 19 as we Play It Forward together! 💙