Sylvia Bruni, Children's Advocacy Center of Laredo-Webb County executive director, said Tuesday the CAC brings together all local agencies which serve children in crises.
Bruni, who addressed the weekly Kiwanis Club meeting at the Holiday Inn Civic Center, said "CAC is one of 62 centers in Texas."
She said one of the biggest changes taking place in Laredo and Webb County is people are speaking up more about childhood abuse ... whether it's physical, sexual, mental and/or emotional.
Bruni has a background in education, ranging from service as English teacher to principal at a Laredo Independent School District school to an interim role as LISD superintendent. She retired from public education in 2005, then returned to the CAC -- where she worked as a co-chairperson from its initiation in 1993 to 2000.
"Someone asked me recently if it's worse today? No, it's been there all along -- it was just a secret," Bruni said.
That "secret" began to crack apart in the 1980s, Bruni said, which led then-District Attorney Joe Rubio, in 1993, to bring together numerous agencies toward addressing these issues.
Bruni said a majority of children whom are sexually abused are under the age of 12.
The CAC has been focusing more on outreach opportunities in this year, "especially to groups which help children and support similar causes," Bruni said.
In my humble opinion, abuse is abuse. Keeping it a secret doesn't help. It only manifests a continual dysfunctional society ... one which seems more keen to what's happening with Jon and Kate Gosselin than what's happening right in front of their noses.
Let me offer this last piece about childhood abuse and, well, abuse, period.
No more secrets. No more.
-- Joe Rutland
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