Our History

Aware Central Texas, formerly known as Family Outreach of Bell County, was started in 1986 as the volunteer arm of Child Protective Services. The purpose of the agency was to assist in the prevention of child abuse and neglect in high-risk families. In 2003, the Texas Legislature eliminated funding for the supervising Family Outreach social workers and consequently, all but 10 of the original 34 centers closed, and the Family Outreach centers in Central Texas diminished from four centers to only one.

 

In 2006, Aware Central Texas was born. Although the agency is no longer associated with Family Outreach Services, the legacy of compassion, mentorship, and prevention historically provided to Central Texas continues. Aware Central Texas has become a nationally recognized Child Abuse Prevention Center (CAP Center) through the National Exchange Foundation. With this title, Aware obtained accreditation using a research-based model. Aware remains the only agency in the region that is solely focused on prevention and is one of only three CAP Centers in all of Texas.

 

Aware believes that education is the key to prevention, which is the way to diminish the astronomically high rate of child abuse/neglect and family violence in our area.