Therapeutic Services for Children with Problematic Sexual Behavior in Chicago

Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center (ChicagoCAC) and its Multidisciplinary Team (Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Chicago Police Department, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and Lurie Children’s Hospital) propose to implement a collaborative treatment model in the city of Chicago to provide an effective trauma-informed and victim-centered approach to help children and families heal from the trauma of sexual abuse and other serious maltreatment.

In Chicago, the response system for children and youth with PSB makes it challenging for providers to engage families in high quality, comprehensive and accessible services and treatment to restore their lives. ChicagoCAC continues to improve the response system efforts to support children and families impacted by PSB through their collaborations, trainings and best-practice interventions. ChicagoCAC’s mental health team has three therapists trained in Problematic Sexual Behavior-Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PSB-CBT) administered by the University of Oklahoma and implements the group and family PSB-CBT modalities, but the demand for services exceeds capacity.

To increase access to the vital services and treatment to meet the needs of children with PSB, ChicagoCAC will hire and train a Program Manager and Therapist in evidence-based group and family models of the Treatment for School-Age Children with Sexual Behavior Problems and their Families, which will allow ChicagoCAC to offer up to four groups at one time and increase the maximum capacity to up to 40 children at a time or over 150 children annually. Additionally, the expansion will allow ChicagoCAC to add 15-17 family treatment slots (at any given time), provide family services for over 45 families and make referrals for treatment to one of its 29 partner agencies through its PATHH (Providing Access Toward Hope and Healing) Collaboration. ChicagoCAC has developed trainings on working with children and youth with PSB to facilitate to treatment providers, law enforcement, child welfare and other professionals and parents. ChicagoCAC’s leadership and collaborative approach will ensure an effective response system is established, implemented, and maintained to provide children and youth who engage in PSB with treatment to prevent and respond to child abuse.