In this interview, Native Child Advocacy Research Center (NCARC) Consultant Jade Carela discusses the goals of the Tulalip Tribes’ Children’s Advocacy Research Center (CAC) and CACs in general.
Native Child Advocacy Research Center (NCARC) Consultant Jade Carela is a member of the Tulalip Tribes in Western Washington and the Director of the Director of the Tulalip Tribes’ Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) and Legacy of Healing, both of which are advocacy centers that serve victims of crime on the Tulalip Indian reservation. The goal of the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) is to cause less trauma to children who are victims and survivors in the community by providing a more holistic approach to all children who are victims of crime. As with other communities, not just Native communities, a long-standing pattern has been to sweep these experiences under the rug, to keep them within the family. Bringing a CAC onto a reservation gives children a voice, says that this behavior is not acceptable and that the perpetrators in communities need to be held accountable. NCARC’s Jennifer Calder recently interviewed Jade to discuss how she approaches relationship building as a CAC Director. Jade’s perspective as a CAC Director allows her unique insights not only into relationships between non-Native providers and their service populations but also into the management of relationships within Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs) composed of Native and non-Native members representing different governments and agencies with different internal work cultures, mandates, and time constraints. Prior to becoming Director of these two programs, Jade served as manager of the Children’s Advocacy Center. She is drawn to this work because of her long-standing dedication to protecting victims and survivors in her Tribal community. She believes strongly that maintaining a Tribal-based program for crime victims is an essential component of creating a safe community that protects the victims and survivors.