The Iowa Child Abuse Resource: Professional and Private Societies

National Children's Advocacy Center

The University of Iowa
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A Children's Advocacy Center (CAC)* is a child-focused, facility-based program in which representatives from many disciplines meet to discuss and make decisions about investigation, treatment and prosecution of child abuse cases. They also work to prevent further victimization of children.

This multidisciplinary team approach brings together under one umbrella all the professionals and agencies needed to offer comprehensive services: law enforcement, child protective services, prosecution, mental health and the medical community. CACs are community-based programs designed by professionals and volunteers to meet the unique needs of its community.

Communities that have developed a CAC experience many benefits: more immediate follow-up to child abuse reports; more efficient medical and mental health referrals; reduction in the number of child victim interviews; increased successful prosecution, and consistent support for child victims and supportive adults.

This comprehensive approach, with follow-up services provided by the CAC, ensures that children receive child-focused services in a child-friendly environment one in which the child's needs come first!

*Some programs that offer the services of a Children's Advocacy Center use other program names.

Core Components of the Children's Advocacy Center

• Separate, childfriendly facilities for interviewing and providing services to child victims and their non-offending family members
• Five core disciplines: law enforcement, child protective services, prosecution, mental health, medical
• Coordinated multidisciplinary investigation team
• Regular interdisciplinary case review
• Intensive case follow-up
• Specially-trained professionals

The Regional Children's Advocacy Centers

In an effort to assist communities in improving their response to child abuse through development of Children's Advocacy Centers, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) established four Regional Children's Advocacy Centers (RCACs). The RCACs provide information, consultation, training and technical assistance, helping to establish childfocused programs that facilitate and support coordination among agencies responding to child abuse. RCACs also provide regional services to help strengthen Children's Advocacy Centers already in existence. The RCACs assist communities in the following areas:

• Assessing their community's capacity to provide services
• Developing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary response to child abuse, particularly the Children's Advocacy Center model
• Developing and negotiating interagency agreements and protocols
• Maintaining open communication and case coordination among community professionals and agencies involved in child protection efforts
• Enhancing professional skills among the interdisciplinary partners
• Coordinating and providing training to the disciplines represented on the multidisciplinary team u
• Identifying and developing funding and marketing strategies
• Strengthening the organizational capacity of CACs and child abuse programs
• Assisting with plans for program expansion
• Increasing community understanding of child abuse

Confidentiality is of the utmost importance to the Children's Advocacy Centers. Therefore, the children shown in this brochure are models. We hope to enable more children to have such expressions of joy on their faces.

The National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers

The National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers (NNCAC) is a not-for-profit membership organization of Children's Advocacy Centers, child advocacy programs, and individuals. Primary funding for the NNCAC comes from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The NNCAC provides:

• National standards for Children's Advocacy Center programs
• Leadership in the field of multidisciplinary team investigations
• Advocacy for programs on a national level
• National models for program improvement
• Training and technical assistance grants
• National training events
• Curricula related to the development and maintenance of CACs
• A comprehensive training and technical assistance resource library
• Publications including Best Practices Manual, 2nd Ed., A Guide to EstablishingA Children's Advocacy Center Program.

RCAC - NNCAC
The four Regional Children's Advocacy Centers and the National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers jointly work to develop and strengthen Children's Advocacy Centers. The RCACs and the NNCAC can assist communities desiring to develop a multidisciplinary, facilit- based approach.

This project was supported by grant funds from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevenfion, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies ofthe U.S. Deparonent of Justice.

For Further Information

For more information on our publications and services and to be added to our mailing list, please send your name, address, organization, phone and fax numbers to :

Midwest Regional Children's Advocacy Center
Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota
Lori Hunsaker, Project Coordinator
La Rabida Children's Hospital and Research Center, Chicago,Illinois
312-373-6700, EXT 421, OR 708-799-1710
FAX: 312-363-7664

Southern Regional Children's Advocacy Center
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Texas, District of Columbia, Delaware, Oklahoma and West Virginia
Nancy O'Leary, Project Director
National Children's Advocacy Center, Huntsville, Alabama
1-800-747-8122 OR 704-285-9588
FAX: 704-285-9548

Northeast Regional Children's Advocacy Center
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Elisabeth J. Cohen, Project Director
Philadelphia Children's Advocacy Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1-800-662-4124 OR 215-387-9500
FAX: 215-387-9513

Western Regional Children's Advocacy Center
Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii and California
Teresa Cain, Executive Director
Pueblo Child Advocacy Center, Pueblo, Colorado
1-800-582-2203
FAX: 719-543-0383
Linda Duhon, Project Director
Community Resource Center
719-543-0380
FAX: 303-860-7723

National Network of Children's Advocacy Center
Nancy Chandler, Executive Director
Washington, D.C.
1-800-239-9950 OR 202-639-0597
FAX: 205-539-7685

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Last Modified: February 28, 1997