Recently Family Service of Waukesha renovated a Victorian house for use as a child advocacy center. The C.A.R.E. Center, a program of Family Service, provides a safe environment where social workers or law enforcement can interview children when there are allegations of abuse.

Included in the house is an interview room with an automated audio and video system installed to record the interviews. Lewis Sound & Video designed and built this system with

• Two ceiling-mounted robotic cameras and a pressure-zone microphone in the interview room. We chose this mic because it can pick up clear vocals from a wide area without any attention on the part of the speaker.
• A control room with three combination videotape and DVD recorders, plus monitors, camera controls, communications and switching equipment.
• A family waiting/meeting area with wall-mounted plasma television.

The goal of the center and its video system are to provide compassionate services to victims of abuse, in particular, to minimize the need to tell and retell their stories to medical personnel, law enforcement, social workers, attorneys and judges. By recording the interviews, center personnel help victims get past this initial stage and move on into the healing process.