BIG SPRING, Texas —
According to a Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) report in 2022, 182 children died due to abuse and neglect in Texas.
Currently, a local advocacy center is expanding to bring that number down.
The Howard County Children's Advocacy Center in Big Spring has recently moved to a new location in order to expand.
Executive Director Pamela Hyde said they had outgrown their previous location and had been wanting to find a new one for a while.
"Well what we we're having is we provided over 500 hours of therapy and over 70 interviews last year and we just decided we needed more space to be able to accommodate our families that we're working with," Hyde said.
Inside the new building there are more spaces for therapists and volunteers to work with children and more office space for staff as well.
But the extra space also benefits the center’s partners.
“We spend a lot of time with our community partners, so we have DFPS, we have the police department, sheriff’s office; we just have various entities that we work with as well and so it gives them the opportunity to come in and do their job effectively," Hyde said.
If you are interested in volunteering for the center in any way, Hyde says feel free to give their office a call and they’ll work with you to set something up.