The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) administers funding and programs to coordinate the Federal government's response to abused and victimized children. These resources support a range of activities designed to meet the needs of victimized children and their families. Activities include direct services, training and technical assistance, capacity building and interagency coordination. The statutory authority is the Victims of Child Abuse (VOCA) Act, 42 U.S.C. sec. 13001 et seq.
The VOCA Regional Childrens Advocacy Centers (CAC) program supports four Regional Childrens Advocacy Centers, one situated within each of the four U.S. Census regions. The goal of the program is to provide training, technical assistance, and information services to both developing and established multidisciplinary teams (MDTS), local CACS, and state chapter organizations of CACS that respond to child abuse and neglect. Pursuant to section 213 of the VOCA Act (codified at 42 USC 13001b), the four Regional Childrens Advocacy Centers were established to: 1) assist communities in developing child-focused, community-oriented, facility-based programs to improve the resources available to child victims and families; 2) provide support for non-offending family members; 3) enhance coordination among community agencies and professionals involved in the intervention, prevention, prosecution, and investigation systems that respond to child abuse cases; and 4) train physicians and other healthcare and mental healthcare professionals in the multidisciplinary approach to child abuse cases.
The Children Advocacy Center for the Pikes Peak Region operates the Western Regional Childrens Advocacy Center. The states included in the Western Region are: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Through this project, the Children's Advocacy Center for the Pikes Peak Region will provide training and technical assistance to develop and strengthen CACs and MDTs in the thirteen states in the western region. The core components of this project include national, regional and state conferences; information dissemination; on-site technical assistance and team training; multidisciplinary and discipline specific training; use of innovative technologies to provide training and technical assistance; mentoring of CAC programs; CAC leadership development; and chapter development to strengthen state networks and develop new programs. NCA/NCF
