Shay Bilchik, Administrator FACT SHEET #26 . JUNE 1995 VOCA: Helping Victims of Child Abuse by Robin V. Delany-Shabazz Leilani1 was eight years old the day she clung to the after- school teacher and begged her to not allow her uncle to take her home because "he bothers me and then makes me promise not to tell." Leilani's brave disclosure had a promising outcome. Her mother confronted her uncle. The abuse stopped. The uncle was arrested, tried, convicted of child molestation, and sent to prison. With the support of therapy, Leilani and her family have begun to heal their wounds. Leilani's story is repeated with disturbing frequency across America. Of the 3.1 million reports of child abuse in 1994, fully one third were substantiated. Yet nearly 300,000 of these children received no therapy or support. And many were revictimized by the system by being subjected to repetitive interviewing, insensitive treatment, and lengthy case prosecutions. Victims of Child Abuse Act This dismal picture was the basis of the 1990 enactment of the Victims of Child Abuse (VOCA) Act, Public Law 101-647, November 29, 1990, as amended by Public Law 102-586, November 4, 1992. In VOCA, Congress reported that: *child abuse investigation and prosecution is complex, involving numerous agencies and individuals; *the system pays inadequate attention to the needs and welfare of abused children, aggravating the trauma they have experienced; and *there is an acute need to enhance coordination among agencies and professionals involved in intervention. The Congress also found that: * increased reports of abuse and neglect have overwhelmed juvenile and family courts; * the federal government provides little assistance in meeting the substantial demands it imposes on the courts; and * a network of trained volunteer court-appointed special advocates will enable juvenile and family courts to improve case dispositions. As a result of its findings, Congress authorized the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to establish regional and local children's advocacy centers, strengthen court appointed special advocate programs, and improve the prosecution and court management of child abuse cases. Children's Advocacy Centers Children's advocacy centers are child-focused, facility-based programs that use multidisciplinary teams to coordinate the judicial and social service systems' response to victims of child abuse. The teams work to prevent revictimization of abused children. Typically, they conduct joint interviews and make team decisions about management of these cases and provision of services to child victims and their families. Under the VOCA authorization, the 1995 Appropriations Act provided $2 million to support local children s advocacy centers (CACs) and $500,000 for regional children s advocacy centers (RCACs). Another $500,000 was allocated to support efforts of the National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers to promote national standards and effective practices by providing training and technical assistance to local programs. With these funds, OJJDP supported four regional centers and authorized the National Network to award and administer subgrants to develop and improve local child advocacy programs nationwide. Regional center services are provided by well-established local children's advocacy programs with experience helping to develop other advocacy programs. Each RCAC shares common objectives: to enhance the capacities and increase the number of CACs. They advance these goals by creating and distributing resource materials, providing training and technical assistance, and offering limited incentive funding. The RCACs facilitate the sharing of information among localities and function as clearinghouses and resource centers. For further information regarding the National Network and regional centers, contact: National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers (Washington, DC) 800/239-9905 Northeastern RCAC (Philadelphia, PA) 800/662-4124 [Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Vermont] Southern RCAC (Huntsville, AL) 800/747-8122 [Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, Virginia] Midwestern RCAC (Chicago, IL) 312/363-6700, ext. 421 [Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin] Western RCAC (Pueblo, CO) 800/582-2203 [Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming] Court Appointed Special Advocates Court appointed special advocates (CASAs), sometimes known as guardians ad litem, are trained volunteers who supplement and assist overburdened court officials and social workers. Generally handling one or two cases at a time, they perform court-supervised fact finding in cases where there are charges of child abuse and neglect in dependency proceedings. CASAs also make permanent placement recommendations to the court. CASA programs have multiplied rapidly--from a single program in 1977 to nearly 600 today. In 1994, 37,000 CASAs represented the interests of more than 128,000 children (one in four of those involved with the courts because of reported neglect, abuse, or abandonment). A membership and resource organization for the local programs, the National CASA Association is subgranting five of the six million dollars appropriated in FY 95 to local programs. One million dollars will be used to administer national efforts, provide training for CASA program staff, volunteers, and board members, and extend technical assistance and information dissemination services. National CASA also collaborates with other national organizations to improve child abuse prevention, intervention, and treatment efforts. For further information or referral to a local CASA program, contact: National CASA (Seattle, WA) 206/328-8588. Juvenile and Family Court To improve handling of child abuse cases by juvenile and family courts, $750,000 was appropriated under VOCA in FY 95 for the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ). An additional $225,000 of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act funds supports NCJFCJ s permanency planning project. NCJFCJ provides training and technical assistance on abuse and neglect issues, family reunification, and permanency planning to court personnel. In 1992, NCJFCJ initiated a model demonstration project within the Cincinnati court system to develop and assess training and technical assistance services in an operating environment. This model forms the basis for administrative reform of the juvenile and family courts. During the current program year, NCJFCJ will expand the demonstration program to three additional court systems. Training and resource materials have been developed, including the Reasonable Efforts Training Video Notebook and Library and a compendium of resource guidelines for court personnel. NCJFCJ has also modeled the integration of CASA representation into abuse and neglect proceedings and developed an information system for tracking and processing cases through the courts. Its research division, the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ), functions as a clearinghouse and resource center and provides technical assistance to juvenile and family courts nationwide. For further information regarding NCJFCJ or NCJJ, contact: NCJFCJ (Reno, NV) 702/784-6012 NCJJ (Pittsburgh, PA) 412/227-6950 Child Abuse Prosecution OJJDP provided $1.5 million in FY 95 to the American Prosecutors Research Institute's National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse (NCPCA) to improve the quality of child-abuse prosecutions. NCPCA provides training and technical assistance to district attorneys, police, social workers, therapists, and child-abuse professionals. For further information, call NCPCA in Alexandria, VA, at 703/739- 0321. Robin V. Delany-Shabazz is a program manager in the Training, Technical Assistance, and Dissemination Division of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 1 Leilani's story is a construct based on real abuse cases. FS-9526