What is a
Child Advocacy Center?
A Child Advocacy Center (CAC) is a child-focused, facility-based program where representatives from various disciplines meet to discuss and make decisions about investigation, treatment, and prosecution of child abuse cases. They also work together to prevent further victimization of children and to improve community response to child abuse.
This multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach brings together under one umbrella all the professionals and agencies needed to offer comprehensive services: law enforcement, child protective services, prosecution, mental health, victim advocates and the medical community. CACs are community-based programs designed by professionals to meet the unique needs of child abuse victims.
Communities that have developed a CAC experience many benefits: more immediate follow-up to child abuse reports; more efficient medical and mental health services/ referrals; reduction in the number of child victim interviews; increase in successful prosecution; and consistent support for child victims and their families.
This comprehensive approach, with follow-up services provided by the CAC, ensures that children receive child-focused services in a safe, friendly environment – one in which the child’s needs come first!
Core Components of a Children’s Advocacy Center
- Separate, child-friendly 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 and medical community
- Coordinated multidisciplinary investigation team
- Regular interdisciplinary case review
- Intensive case follow-up
- Specially-trained professionals
- Crisis counseling
- Supportive services
- Resource and referral
- Victim’s advocacy
