The CAC Model

The Children's Advocacy Center model is a child-focused, facility-based program in which representatives from many disciplines -- law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental health, medical and victim advocacy - work together, conducting joint forensic interviews and making team decisions about the investigation, treatment, management and prosecution of child abuse cases. CACs are community-based programs designed to meet the unique needs of a community, so no two CACs look exactly alike. They share a core philosophy that child abuse is a multifaceted community problem and no single agency, individual or discipline has the necessary knowledge, skills or resources to serve the needs of all children and their families. They also share a belief that the combined wisdom and professional knowledge of professionals of different disciplines will result in a more complete understanding of case issues and the most effective, child and family-focused system response.

The primary goal of all CACs is to ensure that children are not further victimized by the intervention systems designed to protect them. Program objectives include:

  • Developing a comprehensive multidisciplinary, developmentally and culturally appropriate response to child abuse which is designed to meet the needs of children and their families in a specific community;
  • Establishing a neutral, child friendly facility where interviews and/or services for abused children can be provided;
  • Preventing trauma to the child caused by multiple, duplicative contacts with different professionals;
  • Providing needed mental health treatment and other services to children and families;
  • Maintaining open communication, information sharing and case coordination among community professionals and agencies involved in child protection efforts so that case decision-making and policy development are enhanced;
  • Coordinating and tracking investigative, prosecutorial, child protection and treatment efforts so that cases do not "fall through the cracks";
  • Holding more offenders accountable through improved prosecution of child abuse cases;
  • Enhancing professional skills necessary to effectively respond to cases of child abuse through cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural training and support;
  • Enhancing community awareness and understanding of child abuse.

Benefits

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 interviews; increased successful prosecutions; and consistent support for child victims and their families.

Professionals involved in multidisciplinary work report greater appreciation and understanding of the mission of other disciplines; better access to cross-disciplinary training, and more informed decision making. 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 needs of children and families come first.

The National Evaluation of Children's Advocacy Center is being lead by the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center. The National Children's Advocacy Center is one of the partners in the study.

The Southern Regional Children's Advocacy Center assists CACs in the southern region with establishing CAC programs that are patterned after the Huntsville model, but designed to meet the unique needs of their own communities. The Southern Regional Children's Advocacy Center (SRCAC) provides information, consultation and training in establishing child-focused programs that promote coordination among agencies responding to child abuse. SRCAC's staff will assist CACs with questions on starting a CAC program in their community and help with developing a training plan that will meet the needs of the agency and the community.

Training for CAC staff is available through the NCAC's Training Department and the National Symposium on Child Abuse.

Reprinted from Putting Standards into Practice: A Guide to Implementing NCA Standards for Children's Advocacy Centers 2000