OJJDP News @ a Glance - November/December 2006

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Children's Advocacy Centers

A Brief Background on CACs

Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs) provide a team response to child abuse investigations. By bringing together professionals from law enforcement, criminal justice, child protective services, victim advocacy agencies, and the medical and mental health communities, CACs provide comprehensive services for child victims and their nonoffending family members. CACs ensure that children are not further victimized by the process intended to protect them.

The first United States Children's Advocacy Center, now known as the National Children's Advocacy Center (NCAC), was established in Huntsville, AL, in 1985. Dedicated to developing and researching best practice models, NCAC provides education, training, and professional services to promote excellence in child abuse response and prevention. It has served as a model that has evolved into more than 600 CAC programs across the country.

Four OJJDP-funded Regional Children's Advocacy Centers provide consultation, training, and technical assistance services to communities that are developing local centers and to existing CACs that want to strengthen their services. The regional centers work cooperatively with the National Children's Alliance (NCA), the national membership organization of CACs. NCA provides national leadership, training, technical assistance, and networking opportunities.

Together, the National Children's Alliance and Regional Children's Advocacy Center programs have hosted delegations from a number of countries, including China, Belgium, Israel, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Uzbekistan, Australia, New Zealand, Manitoba, Norway, Moscow, Japan, Vietnam, and Morocco.

One thousand representatives from 80 countries attended the 16th International Congress on Child Abuse and Neglect, held in York, England, September 3–6, 2006. Organized by the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) in collaboration with the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, the conference was titled "Protecting Children in a Changing World: Getting It Right." OJJDP Administrator J. Robert Flores spoke on "Eliminating Child Abuse and Neglect: the U.S. Model," and OJJDP sponsored an information and publication booth at the conference.

Several OJJDP grantees made presentations at the conference. In the session "Children's Advocacy Centers, Changing the System for Children," Nancy Chandler, Executive Director of the National Children's Alliance, spoke about the components of the CAC model and how the structure and function of the national-regional-state-local collaboration have fostered CAC growth and flexibility, ensuring that children receive the services to which they are entitled.

Anne Lynn, Project Director, Northeast Regional Children's Advocacy Center, spoke on "Effective Strategies for Development of Multidisciplinary Child Abuse Intervention Teams and Children's Advocacy Centers in Urban Environments." Ms. Lynn explained that the concept of "team" takes on new meanings in cities where large public agencies and multiple medical and mental health treatment organizations intervene in cases of child abuse. Her workshop focused on enhancing team identity, developing interagency commitments and agreements, conflict resolution, and strategies for organizational development in complex urban environments.

In addition, Dr. Rich Kaplan, Associate Medical Director, Midwest Children's Resource Center and Midwest Regional Children's Advocacy Center, discussed "Medical Care Guidelines for Child Victims of Abuse." Dr. Kaplan described the National Medical Training Academy (MTA), which provides indepth, small group training on the medical evaluation of child sexual abuse victims. Since its inception, MTA has trained 360 child sexual abuse medical providers.

Children's Advocacy Centers have seen rapid growth internationally. CACs are currently in development in Canada, Poland, Iceland, and Sweden. As this movement progresses, the National Children's Alliance (NCA) and Regional Children's Advocacy Center programs in the United States, both funded by OJJDP, will play a pivotal role.

More information on the conference, including abstracts of these and many other presentations, can be found at www.ispcan.org.