National Children’s Alliance (NCA) is the not-for-profit membership organization that represents and supports the nation’s Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs). A CAC is a child-friendly facility where law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental health, medical and victim advocacy professionals work together to investigate abuse, help children heal from abuse, and hold offenders accountable. NCA was first federally funded in 1993 to develop and sustain a national membership organization for CACs, multi-disciplinary teams, and related professionals. NCA also develops the standards for accreditation for CACs and State Chapters (a formal association of local CACs within a state) and serves as the national accrediting body. NCA has administered more than $200 million in federal funds for this purpose.
The populations to be served through this program are child victims of all forms of abuse and maltreatment and their families. Last year our national network of more than 950 CACs served more than 380,000 child victims of abuse and provided abuse prevention training to more than 1.5 million children and adults.
National Children’s Alliance proposes to continue strengthening CAC services for all types of child maltreatment through this proposal for the OJJDP 2023 Children’s Advocacy Centers Membership & Accreditation Program Supplemental Grant by:
Supporting the convening of NCA representatives and CAC State Chapter leaders at the Chapter Summit.
Conducting a Chapter Census and producing an updated State of the State Chapters Report.
Conducting a CAC Staffing and Salary Survey and producing a report to provide CACs with information to support their efforts related to staff equity, recruitment, and retention.
Providing access to a centralized learning portal for training and resources to help CACs and MDTs strengthen their practices and meet the National Standards of Accreditation.
Use the Outcome Measurement System to inform, develop and implement national training and technical assistance focused on reducing barriers to program advancement and improving the quality of services to abused children in existing or developing CACs.
Developing a Mental Health Treatment Satisfaction Survey by creating data sets for adding mental health treatment outcome data to the OMS platform.
National Children’s Alliance is uniquely positioned to ensure a strong and accessible national network of Children’s Advocacy Centers empowered and prepared to respond effectively and compassionately to child victims of abuse and their families across the country.
