Victims of Child Abuse (VOCA) Category 4: CAC Military Partnership Pilot Project

The National Children’s Alliance, the not-for-profit membership organization and accrediting body for the nation’s Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs), will work closely with CACs, the military service branches and the Department of Defense- Family Advocacy Program (FAP) to coordinate the delivery of services to child abuse victims in military families.

This project supports a national pilot program for CAC and military installation collaborations that provide a coordinated response to child abuse. Funding will allow the National Children’s Alliance to continue to implement the OJJDP 2019 VOCA CAC Military Partnership Pilot Project Program by:

1) Supporting a national pilot program for CACs and military installation collaborations that provide a coordinated investigative and comprehensive response to child abuse and includes partners such as the DOD Family Advocacy Program, command staff, and military investigative and medical personnel as appropriate. Funding will be awarded to 8 pilot sites.

2) Developing and implementing a national strategy of military-CAC collaboration through coordination with the Department of Defense and CAC organizations with regional or national reach.

3) Evaluating and documenting efficacy and progress of project implementation and the collaborative model at pilot sites to inform future work and publications related to broader implementation/replication of the model.

The program has several metrics to measure progress toward these goals, e.g. children and families served, clients receiving evidence based treatments, CACs and multi-disciplinary team receiving training, educational resources developed, and metric to determine interagency collaboration.

CA/NCF

This program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants and cooperative agreements for training and technical assistance to organizations that OJJDP designates.

National Children’s Alliance is the non-profit membership organization and accrediting body for the nation’s Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs). A CAC is a child-friendly facility in which 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.

This project will support a national program for CAC and military collaborations that provides a coordinated response to child abuse. Child abuse victims from military families present unique situations that merit attention to ensure the provision of coordinated and comprehensive multidisciplinary services. The lengthy and continual rounds of deployment that many have experienced, the insular nature of the armed services, the fact that the Uniform Code of Military Justice is a separate body of law from public law, and the fact that there are jurisdictional issues with the Department of Defense, Justice Department, and local authorities are just a few examples of the obstacles in serving the needs of child victims from active-duty military families.

National Children’s Alliance will implement the following activities under the VOCA CAC Military Partnership Pilot Project Program by:

1) Supporting a national pilot program for local CAC-military installation, collaborations that provides a coordinated investigative and comprehensive response to child abuse and includes military collaborative partners, such as the Department of Defense Family Advocacy Program (FAP), command staff, and military investigative and medical personnel as appropriate,
2) Developing and publishing RFPs, as approved by OJJDP, specifically to improve the provision of services to victims of child abuse and their families in the military,
3) Providing training and technical assistance specific to the OJJDP-approved RFP, and some targeted training to support those CACs that receive funding,
4) Managing a national peer review process to evaluate applications for funding,
5) Implementing the strategy through coordination with the Department of Defense, FAPs, and CAC organizations with regional or national reach,
6) Documenting the progress of project implementation and the collaborative model developed at each pilot site for the purpose of informing future work and publications related to implementation and replication, and
7) Providing oversight and monitoring of subaward activities in accordance with the DOJ Grants Financial Guide.

The program has several metrics to measure progress toward these goals, e.g. children and families served, clients receiving evidence based treatments, CACs and multi-disciplinary team receiving training, educational resources developed, and metric to determine interagency collaboration.

CA/NCF