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.