WRCAC Roundup

An array of resources is available to support children’s advocacy centers (CACs) efforts to include military partners in the multidisciplinary team response and ensure that services are coordinated with military systems. Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (WRCAC) supports MDTs and CACs across the western region through training and technical support and encourages CACs and MDTs to consider their military partners when developing services in their communities. Read More >>

Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (WRCAC) works throughout the west to provide training and technical assistance which strengthens a trauma-informed, coordinated community response and promotes the National Standards of Accreditation for Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs). In 2023, the National Children’s Alliance’s (NCA’s) revised accreditation standards went into effect. The standards, which were first put into place over twenty years ago and have been updated approximately every five years, help guide the work of CACs nationwide. The ten standards help ensure that children who experience abuse have high-quality, evidence-based services available to them when they enter the doors of the over 750 accredited CACs in the country to begin the healing process. Read Issue 26 (Standards 1-5) >

Before we dive into the second half of the standards, we wanted to share some information from the National Children’s Alliance based on the first group of CACs to apply for accreditation or reaccreditation under the new standards. During the first part of the year, nearly 73% of the CACs that applied for accreditation/reaccreditation were successful and 27% of the CACs that applied for accreditation/reaccreditation went into the pending status. Although the 27% number may seem high, the first part of the year did not see that many CACs go through the process. For those that went into pending status, the standard that proved to be the most challenging was the MDT standard with issues cited regarding protocols and how teams give feedback and how that feedback is formally reviewed. The second most common reason CACs went into pending status was the victim advocacy standard. Most cited here were issues with victim advocates not having the full range of training required and the ongoing training requirement. Read Issue 27 (Standards 6-10) >>

This issue of the Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (WRCAC) Roundup highlights recently published articles on telemental health (TMH) of interest to child advocacy centers (CACs). It is the second part of our research series (see part one here). While the previous Roundup focused on the general effectiveness of TMH, this Roundup highlights research related to the application of TMH to certain populations or interventions.  We encourage you to read the articles in full and share them with your CAC staff and partners. Read More >>

Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (WRCAC) is committed to strengthening multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) and children’s advocacy centers (CACs) in our region and across the country with our collaborative partners. As part of our work, we are helping CACs in our region understand some of the recent updates to the National Children’s Alliance’s (NCA’s) accreditation standards that went into effect in January of 2023. There are several updates and additions across the ten standards. However, it is important to note that the updated standards reflect an increased focus on the role of the MDT facilitator and the MDT overall. One of the newest additions to the standards relates to the onboarding of new MDT members. Essential Component J under Standard 1 states: “The CAC/MDT provides formal orientation for new MDT members regarding CAC/MDT process, policies and procedures, and code of conduct” (NCA, 2023). Read More >>

The research is clear that child and family-serving organizations such as children’s advocacy centers have an obligation to their staff to implement practices that support the workforce response to secondary traumatic stress (STS) (The Center for Child Welfare Trauma-Informed Policies, Programs, and Practices and O’Malley-Laursen, 2021). Leadership involvement in assessing the strengths and needs of their organization and deploying resources to mitigate the impact of STS is imperative. However, it is also important that children’s advocacy centers commit to implementing practices not only with children’s advocacy center (CAC) staff but with their multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) as well. Individual members of MDTs are often impacted by STS and can benefit from reflective practices as support for a trauma-informed team. Read More >>

As we all know, the world shifted in 2020, and many of us went from being in the office full-time to working remotely and participating in virtual meetings and trainings. In fact, in 2021, Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (WRCAC) dedicated a Roundup to understanding how to best approach virtual meetings. However, now, many of us are finding ourselves settling somewhere between being fully virtual and fully in-person. For many of us, multidisciplinary team (MDT), case review, and staff meetings have become hybrid meetings. Hybrid meetings involve some attendees participating in-person and others remotely through a web-based platform such as Zoom.  Read More >>

Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (WRCAC) is committed to strengthening multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) and children’s advocacy centers (CACs) in our region and through our work with our collaborative partners across the country. We provide technical assistance, customized training, and resources to help teams effectively respond to child abuse in their communities. We also work with our regional partners to host quarterly peer forums for MDT facilitators to learn and connect with their peers. Information about these and other learning opportunities is provided at the end of this article. In our most recent peer forum, we covered the topic of boundary spanning. Understanding boundary spanning is a key step to strengthening MDTs and the collaborative approach to child abuse investigations. Read More >>

The rapid implementation of telemental health (TMH) services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic produced opportunities and challenges for maintaining mental health services while in-person sessions were suspended. While TMH services were not new, especially for children’s advocacy centers (CACs) and clinicians serving rural and frontier clients, they were often looked at as a less desirable alternative to in-person sessions. This misperception is changing, and TMH delivery is growing as a respected modality in its own right. Read More >>

According to 2020 United States (US) Census data, over 80% of the population identifying as American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) resides in the western region of the United States. Many tribal reservations in the west are geographically isolated and have limited access to important services. To increase access to children’s advocacy center (CAC) services that are culturally responsive, CACs must first ensure they understand a key concept specific to AI/AN communities: tribal sovereignty. Read More >>

The Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center has been committed to helping strengthen multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) and children’s advocacy centers (CACs) throughout the thirteen states in our region. Through our work with individual CACs as well as state chapters, we have provided technical assistance, customized trainings and resources to help teams more effectively respond to child abuse in their communities. One of the keys to strengthening MDTs is to understand how important the concept of “purpose” is to both individuals and teams as a whole. Read More >>

Children’s advocacy centers (CACs) work hard to provide pathways to healing for children and families. However, providing mental health services onsite or through linkage agreements has become increasingly difficult as referrals outpace availability of therapists. Identifying local trauma-trained professionals, even in large urban areas with a rich pool of licensed therapists, can prove difficult. The challenge is more daunting in rural and frontier communities where far fewer licensed mental health professionals live¹. To the extent that qualified trauma-focused treatment providers exist in rural areas, they are often found in limited numbers, and families may experience long waits before therapy can be initiated. This shortage often means relying on generalist mental health professionals who do not specialize in evidence-based trauma treatment.  Read More >>

Before jumping into this article, take a moment to think of the first word or feeling that arises when you read the word change. What is your initial response? Does it feel expansive or restrictive? Perhaps somewhere in between? We started with this exact question at the MDT Facilitator Peer Forum in June, a virtual space for multidisciplinary team (MDT) facilitators hosted by the four regional children’s advocacy centers (RCACs). The responses were wide-ranging: fear, opportunity, exhaustion, innovation, and resistance are just a sampling of what we heard during the forum. Read More >>