With a mission that includes enhancing the rule of law and system of justice in Texas, especially for programs that relate to the administration of justice for the underserved, the Texas Bar Foundation awarded Child Advocates of Fort Bend (CAFB) a grant to support its work in trauma-informed advocacy for children and youth met with child abuse or neglect.
Many of the vulnerable children in Fort Bend County encounter multiple professionals throughout their lives, whether it is through the education system, juvenile justice system, child welfare system or various others. These vulnerable children have extensive trauma histories that play a large role in their lives and can affect their capacity to think, build connections and to trust, which can lead to a high risk of emotional problems and dysfunctional behaviors. Trauma-informed care is rooted in the principles of Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI) – a model developed by the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development at Texas Christian University – that focuses on building trust, promoting healing, and fostering resilience through connection.
The Fort Bend County Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)® Collaborative was established in August 2021 to meet the trauma-informed care needs of Fort Bend County. The initiative is dedicated to supporting children and families affected by adversity, including the trauma of child abuse and neglect. The goals of the Collaborative are to support the healing process for youth who have experienced trauma by facilitating training for child welfare professionals and others based upon TBRI® principles.
The collaborative is multi-system and comprises members from both public and private sectors. Each member of the collaborative is a trained TBRI® Practitioner through the Karyn Purvis
Institute of Child Development. In 2024, Child Advocates of Fort Bend became the lead agency for the county-wide training initiative under the TBRI® Collaborative, which provides training at no cost to the community. CAFB also operates a Children’s Advocacy Center, CASA service and Community Engagement programs at its campus in Rosenberg.
“The Texas Bar Foundation has been a supporter of justice initiatives for youth served by CAFB and recently provided funding toward our 2-day conference, “Building Resilient and Trauma-Informed Communities,” held at University of Houston – Sugar Land with more than 180 registered attendees, including local juvenile justice and child welfare attorneys, as well as staff from the Fort Bend County District Attorney and County Attorney offices” said Metoyer Martin, Sr. Director of Strategic Programs and Services at CAFB. “It is critical to understand how trauma impacts child development and, furthermore, how to work with children who have been abused to help them heal from their trauma and return to a healthy developmental trajectory in which they can thrive.”
CAFB provides clinical services, programming and court advocacy for child victims in sex abuse and criminal cases and is the Guardian ad Litem appointed by the court in civil cases to advocate the best interest for children in foster care. “By helping build an understanding of trauma, the barriers it imposes, and strategies to work with children who have experienced trauma, we can help transform our community to be collectively more trauma informed. The Texas Bar Foundation’s support is critical to help ensure that all our advocacy services can continue,” added Martin.