Family Advocates

National Children's Advocacy Center

The Family Advocates Program is designed to support non-offending caregivers in cases of alleged child sexual abuse in such a manner that they can act responsibly to protect and support the alleged child victim.

The non-offending caregiver, particularly in incest cases, is besieged by a wide array of pressures and emotions. If the child is to be protected and remain in their own home the non-offending caregiver often must choose to support the child in the face of their own denial, that of the alleged abuser, and the denial of their family and friends. This task is made more difficult by the array of emotions with which the parent must deal, including denial, shame, rejection, fear, anger, and loss. Added to this is the reality many such parents were themselves victimized as children, thus the alleged abuse potentially rekindles old deep-seated emotions. Combined with the emotional stress is the financial impact caused by sudden separations and the loneliness and isolation often resulting from separations.

A major role of the FA is to provide emotional support to non-offending caregivers during a time of crisis. It is a chaotic time for these caregivers because of the following factors:

  • divided loyalties between child and alleged offender who may be a close family member (on many occasions, a spouse)
  • a sudden change of lifestyle
  • loss of income or financial support

The Family Advocate helps to identify the non-offending caregiver's most urgent need for the family. Basic needs must be met first, such as food, clothing, shelter and safety of the child. The FA's role is to provide support for the non-offending caregiver and help guide the caregiver toward healthy decision making.

The goals of the Family Advocates program are to:

  1. Ensure the child's physical safety and assist in preserving the integrity of the caregiver-child family unit by:
    • Identifying the child protective services safety plan for the family
    • Ensuring the non-offending caregiver's understanding of the plan
    • Identifying areas where the non-offending caregiver needs assistance to carry out the plan
    • Providing support to the non-offending caregiver in the concerning areas
  2. Educate non-offending caregivers on their roles in the investigative process by:
    • Helping them understand the legal and child protective systems
    • Assuring that they understand their role is to support the child and not to gather case facts
  3. Empower the non-offending caregiver to rebuild a safe and stable home by:
    • Identifying housing, transportation, education and financial needs
    • Facilitating the non-offending caregiver's ability to retain the needed resources
  4. Decrease the likelihood of the non-offending caregiver allowing the alleged offender back into the home during the investigation by:
    • Providing consistent and professional emotional support from a Family Advocate
    • Connecting the non-offending caregiver with a broader support system through a support group
    • Assisting the non-offending caregiver in coping with the realities and complexities of the system as the case evolves.

The NCAC provides an annual training for new directors and supervisors at Family Advocate Management Training. This training is designed to focus on NCAC's model, how it began and how it is evolving in the areas of program development, program support , training and research . This model has been published in the FA Technical Assistance Manual, provided to each attendee at the FA Management Training. NCAC also offers a 1 day Frontline Worker Training for Family Advocates who are just beginning to work in this field. The Family Advocates Technical Assistance manual is available here

References

  • Carnes, C. & Leslie, C. 2000. National Association of Family Advocates Technical Assistance Manual. National Children's Advocacy Center: Huntsville, AL
  • Carnes, C. 1997. Handbook for Parents of Sexually Abused Children. National Children's Advocacy Center: Huntsville, AL
  • Elliott, A. & Carnes, C. 2001. Reactions of Non-offending Parents to the Sexual Abuse of Their Child: A Review of the Literature. Child Maltreatment, Vol.6, No.4, November.