Our Mission

"We serve children and youth who have experienced abuse, supporting them through the investigative, justice and healing process with a continuum of multi-disciplinary resources."

With the best interests of the child in mind, the vision of the Centre is to raise the awareness and accountability of the community in reporting, intervening, investigating and prosecuting child abuse occurrences.

By educating and creating awareness among the community, our organization strives to make it easier for kids to tell and for investigations and prosecutions to be carried out in a more efficient and appropriate manner.

In a true book, Zebras author Melissa Stewart writes, "When zebras run in a group, their stripes blend together. It may be hard for enemies to tell where one zebra ends and another starts." When danger appears, adult zebras form a protective circle around their young. This is how the Zebra Centre works, by bringing a multidisciplinary community of caring professionals - child protection investigators, police, prosecutors, doctors and volunteers - to an environment that protects the hurt child and uses all the collaborative wisdom of its community partnership to lend strength to each abused child.

About ZEBRA CHILD & YOUTH ADVOCACY CENTRE - EDMONTON, ALBERTA

Strength in numbers ... Since 2002, the Zebra Child & Youth Advocacy Centre has been lending strength to victims of child abuse within Edmonton and surrounding areas.

We take our name from one of the world's most community-oriented animals. When zebras are threatened, they shield each other from harm by coming together and using their stripes as camouflage - enemies can't tell where one zebra ends and another starts. The young are safe within the protective group circle.

In much the same way, Zebra partners unite to benefit children. Our interdisciplinary partnership of child protection professionals supports children and their caregivers throughout the disclosure, investigation, justice and recovery process. By providing our integrated system of services under one roof and in a child-centred environment, we minimize further trauma and foster healing.

We work with kids every step of the way, tailoring our approach to remain responsive to the unique needs of each child.