Our Mission

Our mission is to serve child victims of sexual and severe physical abuse and neglect through coordinated interagency investigation, intervention, education and advocacy.

The Child Advocacy Center for Cleveland County, located in Norman, creates a child-friendly environment to carry out this sensitive work. Mary Abbott Children's House brings professionals together in one location to investigate reported child abuse.

The center, located in a beautiful historic home in a quiet neighborhood, makes the process of investigation less frightening to a child.
The home-like surroundings allow the child to talk one-on-one with a professional, trained to interview on behalf of the investigative team.

Cleveland County's Child Abuse Response & Treatment Team involves law enforcement, child welfare, the D.A.'s office and mental health & medical professionals in a collaborative approach to child abuse. Read more...
 

Dr. Mary Abbott was an early pioneer as an advocate for child abuse awareness. She had a vision for 25 years that, as a community, we could do a better job of meeting the needs of victims of child abuse. She also promoted the concept of multidisciplinary teams. She didn't call it that - the term hadn't been created yet, but she knew if the professionals who addressed child abuse would just work together, there would be a better outcome for children and families. So she began efforts to create a team with other dedicated professionals.  She led; she guided; she mentored. She even admitted to bullying a little occasionally if she felt it was necessary. Ultimately a team was created.

She was the first pediatrician in our community willing to administer sexual abuse exams for child victims, and we can imagine that she was able to remove a great deal of trauma from the experience. When she had findings of abuse, she was willing to get on the stand in court and say so. She didn't enjoy that aspect of her work...it was just the right thing to do.

Mary had a wonderful sense of humor and a true gift for relating to people and putting them at ease. She could take tension out of a situation, or put it in, if she didn't think people were paying enough attention to something important.

In a world that faces child abuse every day, with a new report of abuse every ten seconds, we can be thankful that we had Mary to guide us to better helping children. Her vision and our purpose is to make the process a little less stressful for children.

Several years ago, when the child abuse response center was faced with the need to change its name, it was only natural to name it after Mary Abbott...for her vision, drive, hard work, and commitment to making the world a better place. We are so grateful she was at the dedication of Mary Abbott Children's House...to be recognized in that way and to know how much we all admired and loved her.