Act for Kids, established as the Abused Child Trust in 1988, provides professional therapy to children and families who have experienced, or are at risk of child abuse and neglect.
All of our services are provided free of charge to clients, while we receive some government funding we rely heavily on donations and fundraising to expand and develop our services to reach out to more children and families in need.
Statistics show the need is great - 37,781 children suffered from child abuse in Australia in 2011-12. That's almost one child every 14 minutes suffering from neglect or physical, sexual or emotional abuse, often by people they know and should be able to trust.
Many of these kids get no professional help whatsoever, and end up with lifelong problems. But a small few find themselves at an Act for Kids centre.
Our unique multidisciplinary teams provide intensive therapy, sexual abuse counseling, safe houses in remote Indigenous communities, youth mentoring, family coaches and a preschool designed for children with additional development needs to ensure we set them up for success at school.