A USA national survey of program services provided by child advocacy centers.
OBJECTIVE
Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) are designed to improve the community collaborative response to child sexual abuse and the criminal justice processing of child sexual abuse cases. CACs, in existence for 16 years, now have standards for membership developed by the National Children's Alliance (NCA) that include nine core components. And yet no systematic examination of the CAC model exists. The purpose of this paper was to assess the variations within these core components as they exist in the field.


METHODS
Using a stratified random sampling design, 117 CAC directors were interviewed using a semi-structured interview that was based on the NCA's standards for membership. The eight core components of the CAC model examined in this study include: a child-friendly facility, a multidisciplinary team, an investigative child interview, a medical examination of the child, provision of mental health services, victim advocacy, case review, and case tracking.


RESULTS
Results reveal the CAC model has been widely adopted by both member and nonmember centers, although variations in implementation exist.


CONCLUSIONS
Future developments in the CAC model must include evaluation of the model.
Jackson
Shelly L
SL
Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908-0660, USA.
D000288:Administrative Personnel; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002651:Child Advocacy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D012946:Social Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States