An Advocate for Children

While working in various roles at the Children’s Advocacy Center, Missy Davison’s goal has always remained the same: to support young victims of abuse

by ELLEN ORR

photo by ABBY ELLIOTT

During a trip to the Smoky Mountains in June 2019, all of Missy’s sisters, nieces, nephews, and parents enjoyed a family vacation and made it up the Clingmans Dome Observation Tower.

For 16 years, Missy Davison has worked for the Children’s Advocacy Center in various roles—family advocate, forensic interviewer, therapist, director. Within an imperfect judicial system and world, Missy has spent the bulk of her career supporting children through the aftermath of abuse.

Growing up, Missy didn’t even know that the Children’s Advocacy Center existed, let alone dream of a career there. In fact, it wasn’t until she took Psychology 101 as a college elective that she realized she wanted to become a mental health counselor. Inspired by a dynamic and caring professor, Missy earned a bachelor’s degree in counseling/psychology from Southwestern Assemblies of God University in 2003. 

After working at a youth eating disorder treatment center in Arizona, Missy’s commitment to working with young people was solidified. In 2005, she returned to Texarkana and became a part-time family advocate and then a full-time forensic interviewer at the CAC.

Missy and her coworkers during the second annual Texarkana Children’s Advocacy Center’s Child Abuse Conference.

The job of the forensic interviewer is to elicit the most accurate information from young victims of abuse, without causing further trauma. As of publication, Missy has conducted over 2,000 interviews. The center sees almost 1,000 children per year, a number that has steadily grown over the past two decades. About 85 percent of cases concern child sexual abuse. The remaining 15 percent of cases mostly concern physical abuse and neglect, witnessing violence, and drug endangerment.

Missy and her husband, Billy,  with their Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix, Gunner, during Thanksgiving 2020.

“The whole purpose of [forensic interviewing in this context] is to create a safe environment, where [the victim is] not having to tell their statement multiple times, not having to go to law enforcement, not having to go to Child Protective Services and tell what happened. They come [to the CAC], and they only have to tell it one time,” Missy explained. “Giving their statement to the interviewer—that’s hopefully a step toward getting them into a safe environment and a step toward healing.”

Alongside her work as an advocate and interviewer, Missy pursued her master’s degree at Texas A&M- Texarkana from 2005-2008.  “I loved that program,” Missy said. “I had the best professors you could ever imagine. I was so blessed to be there. I really learned so much, and I owe a lot to them as far as the therapist I am today.”

Missy (second from left) with her parents, Ernestine and Bobby Stout, and sister, Tammy Mason, in April 2019, when Missy was honored by the U.S. Department of Justice for her hard work in helping the U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District Office prosecute a child abuse case.

In 2008, upon becoming licensed, Missy added “counselor” to her list of jobs at the center. She is certified in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), becoming nationally recognized in 2020. TF-CBT is only one of multiple therapeutic modalities which she uses; play-based, sand-tray, and art therapies are other ways she helps children survive the debilitating effects of developmental trauma. “I’d describe my style as eclectic,” she reflected. “I like TF-CBT as my basis, sure, but ultimately, I’m just going to do whatever is best for the child in front of me.”

In 2010, Missy became the Program Director. (This year, due to administrative reshuffling, her title has officially changed to Executive Director of the Children’s Advocacy Center.) As an administrator, she supervises all CAC services, offers counseling, and supervises the nonprofit’s staff. 

Missy with her mother, Ernestine Stout, and father, Bobby Stout, at her college graduation after she received her bachelor’s degree in May 2002.

In 2019, Missy was recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice for the work she did as a forensic interviewer on a federal child-abuse case.  While she does believe that the judicial system sometimes “works for kids,” Missy recognizes that what happens in the courts is largely out of her control. “Justice,” then, cannot hinge upon a verdict. 

“Justice, to me, is when a child [comes to] know that [the abuse was] not their fault, that they’re okay, and that they can live a happy, healthy life; knowing that traumas may still come their way, but that they’re a survivor, and they can overcome,” she said. “[Justice is] when a child recognizes and says, ‘This isn’t my fault, I did nothing wrong, and I can let this piece of trauma go away.’ They don’t have to forgive, but they can let it go, and it doesn’t control them. They learn that they can overcome anything and become anything they want. Of course, we know that trauma never truly ‘goes away,’ but when it’s not slapping them in the face every day and controlling their emotions and behaviors, when it’s just a little shadow, when they are surviving and healed and moving forward—that is justice.