Children’s Advocacy Center
Category
Child & Family Health
Child's Age
0-1 years, 1-2 years, 2-3 years, 3-4 years, 4-5 years
Participant
Children, Parents/Guardian
Languages
English, Spanish, Other
Brief Description
Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) provide support and resources for children in abusive situations through services performed by victim advocates, therapists, forensic interviewers, and medical providers serving children and non-offending caregivers in comfortable, child-focused settings. Additionally, Children’s Advocacy Centers of North Carolina (CACNC) offers symposiums, training sessions, and resources to keep local CACs, service providers, and multi-disciplinary team partners up to date with best practices.
Expected Impact
- Greater multidisciplinary coordination
- Increased likelihood of CPS-police involvement
- Increased likelihood of referrals and reduction of further trauma to the child through coordinated forensic interviews, forensic medical examinations and mental health services
- Increased caregiver access to relevant resources and supports
- Increased caregiver understanding of child maltreatment prevention strategies
Core Components for Model Fidelity
- Partner with Children’s Advocacy Center of North Carolina (CACNC): All CACs in North Carolina are members of CACNC, which provides training, technical assistance, legal and medical guidance, center development, outreach to underserved communities, and statewide advocacy to CACs and multidisciplinary teams across NC.
- CAC Services: Services free of charge to children and families. The child’s safety and well-being comes first in all services. Visit the CACNC website for more details about services provided by CACs.
- Family Advocacy
- Mental Health services provided by a licensed therapist
- Community Awareness & Education
- Medical Evaluations
- Forensic Interviews
- Multi-Disciplinary Team
Languages Materials are Available in
English, Spanish, Other*
*Contact purveyor about additional available languages.
Delivery Mode
In-person.
Dosage
As needed.
Infrastructure for Implementation
Space: CAC services are provided in a private, safe, child-focused community space.
Staffing Requirements
CAC staffing requires a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to respond to allegations of child maltreatment, including mandatory representation from the following disciplines:
- Law enforcement
- Child Protective Services (CPS)
- Prosecution
- Medical
- Mental Health
- Victim Advocacy
- Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC)
Additional state and/or local disciplines and community members may be included.
CAC staff members may fill multiple roles, such as a director serving as a victim advocate or a CPS worker serving as a forensic interviewer and caseworker.
Training for Model Fidelity
CACs will follow all training requirements outlined in the National Children's Alliance Accreditation Standards along with the CACNC State Standards requirements. CACNC sponsors and/or provides various training programs throughout the year that are created and delivered to meet the various training requirements for CAC staff and their respective MDT partners. To view upcoming training dates, visit the CACNC Training webpage.
Contact Information
Children's Advocacy Centers of North Carolina (CACNC); 336-886-4589
National Children’s Alliance (accrediting organization for CACs)
Cost Estimates
In areas where CACs exist or have counties that they serve under an MOU, Smart Start Local Partnerships can provide funding for CACs. Please note that Smart Start does not duplicate services but supports and collaborates with existing agencies and resources.
In communities that do not have a CAC, Smart Start Local Partnerships may provide additional support based on community need and may have the opportunity to serve as the lead agency for development.
For more information on CAC funding opportunities and needs, contact Deana Joy (deana@cacnc.org) or Suzan Evans (suzan@cacnc.org).
Purpose Service Code (PSC)
5510 – Family Crisis Intervention
Program Identifier (PID)
Child Advocacy Center
Minimal Outputs for NCPC Reporting
FY 24-25:
- Number of children participating
- Number of parent/guardians participating†
†Select Family Support Programs data collection will include basic demographic data for parent/guardian participants including Race, Ethnicity. Data on interpretation and transportation will be collected when appropriate.
Minimal Outcomes for NCPC Reporting
FY 24-25:
- Increase in developmental screenings or assessments, referrals, and child use of services
Minimal Measures for NCPC Reporting
FY 24-25:
- Child Screenings, Referrals, and Use of Services Calculation
NCPC Evidence Categorization
Evidence Informed- 2 publications. 1 national report and 1 bulletin describing 3 quasi-experimental studies using the same control and comparison groups.
Research Summary
The most recent and relevant publications on Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) include a bulletin describing a series of 3 quasi-experimental evaluations sampling the same population1 and a report of CAC outcomes across the United States.2 The quasi-experimental evaluations sampled 1,220 cases involving sexual abuse of children ages 0-18 years at four well-established CACs and randomly selected comparison sites. Results indicated that cases handled by CACs featured greater multidisciplinary coordination, increased likelihood of CPS-police involvement, and more referrals for forensic medical examinations and mental health services. The sample population of the national report included 681 CACs which submitted 48,521 caregiver surveys and 12,685 multidisciplinary team surveys. Survey results demonstrated that caregivers agreed that CACs provided them with resources and services to support their children, their child felt safe, and the services met all their child’s needs. CAC staff members provided resources and support to ensure caregivers’ understanding of their visit, the interview process, and how to keep their child safe in the future. Multidisciplinary team members indicated that the center provided resources to support their work and found other team members to collaborate willingly.
- ^ See Cross et al. (2008). This bulletin provides a brief overview of a series of quasi-experimental evaluations of Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs). Detailed findings are cited in Cross et al. (2008) and available in Cross et al. (2007); Jones et al. (2007); and Walsh et al. (2007). The evaluations utilized the same sample population of cases from four long-standing, experienced CACs and randomly selected comparison sites during a two-year period. The sample included 1,220 cases, all of which involved sexual abuse. Child ages ranged from 0-18 years with an average age of 9-10 years. Primary data included case file data, interview data collected 3-4 months after the investigation, and descriptive, site-level data. Results indicated that CAC cases were more likely to use multidisciplinary team interviews, videotape interviews, joint CPS-police investigations, and multidisciplinary case reviews, all of which are indicative of greater coordination in investigations. There were no significant differences between CAC cases and comparison cases regarding the number of interviews and number of interviewers. Children in comparison communities were slightly more likely to disclose abuse during a forensic interview. In general, children in CACs were twice as likely to receive a medical examination than comparison cases. CAC cases where penetration was not suspected were four times more likely to receive a medical examination. CACs provided a higher number of referrals to mental health services, yet caregiver interviews indicated no difference in access to child mental health services from comparison sites. CPS was more likely to be involved and place children outside of the home in CAC cases, likely due to greater joint CPS-police involvement. Finally, CAC cases were more effectively prosecuted.
- ^ See National Children’s Alliance (2016). This national report details survey findings from Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) in all 50 states. The sample population included 681 CACs which submitted 48,521 caregiver surveys and 12,685 multidisciplinary team surveys. Caregivers completed a survey at the end of their first visit to the CAC and a follow-up survey two months later. Multidisciplinary team members completed a survey at two intervals during the year, approximately six months apart. Survey results indicated that caregivers agreed that CACs provided them with resources and services to support their children (95% and 96%, respectively), their child felt safe (97%), and the services met all their child’s needs (93%). CAC staff members provided resources and support to ensure caregivers’ understanding of their visit (99%), the interview process (98%), and how to keep their child safe in the future (98%). Multidisciplinary team members indicated that the center provided resources to support their work (96%) and found other team members to collaborate willingly (98%).
Researched Population
- 1,220 child sexual abuse cases from four long-standing, experienced CACs and randomly selected comparison sites during a two-year period
- Children ages 0-18 years with an average age of 9-10 years
- 681 CACs across the United States which submitted 48,521 caregiver surveys and 12,685 multidisciplinary team surveys
Cross, T. P., Jones, L. M., Walsh, W. A., Simone, M., Kolko, D., Sczepanski, J., Lippert, T., Davison, K., Crynes, A., Sosnowski, P., Shadoin, A. L., and Magnuson, S. (2008). Evaluating Children’s Advocacy Centers’ Response to Child Sexual Abuse. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/218530.pdf
National Children’s Alliance. (2016). Healing, Justice, & Trust: A National Report on Outcomes for Children’s Advocacy Centers. https://nationalchildrensalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/OMS-National-Report-2016-1.pdf
Local Partnerships Currently Implementing
Local Partnerships in purple have adopted Children’s Advocacy Center. Local Partnership contact information can be found here.