It's a topic many of us hate to think about. A topic, that's becoming increasingly popular on the desks of authorities like Investigator Harvey Mathis with Dale County Sheriff's Office.

"I think more people are readily willing to report incidents of sexual abuse on their children and that they know, especially with the assistance of the child advocacy center that we will aggressively pursue the cases," says Investigator Mathis.

Authorities say within the past year the amount of sexual abuse cases in Dale County have doubled.

Investigator Mathis says he's hearing and seeing more of these sexual abuse cases come to the surface because some of these children themselves are finding courage through others stories and finally coming forward to tell their own.

"We've had cases four years ago, we're working on right now where they have come forth and they just believed that nobody would believe them and then when you go there and explain to them that you do believe them, that you're there for them, they'll come forth and want to finally see justice done."

Because of the increase in cases reported, Investigator Mathis and Dale County District Attorney Kirk Adams have been working on teaming with the Wiregrass violent crimes drug task force to concentrate solely on the cases.

Mathis says, "It's going to put me basically working the child cases versus the property crimes, and we're going to have dedicated employees working these cases."

Investigator Mathis says while these cases have a tendency to take a mental toll on someone, the reward in the end is priceless.

"You know when you work these cases versus drug a case a child quits suffering and that’s what makes you feel good inside."

Plans to combine with the task force are still in the preliminary stages.

Investigator Mathis says until then, he won't slow down in finding justice for the victims.

Authorities say they have been working on grants to fund the combining of the units.