The Child Advocacy Center of Northeast Missouri Inc

The Child Advocacy Center's mission is to respond to child abuse through a supportive team approach to reduce the trauma to children and their families.

Before Child Advocacy Centers were established, and the multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach was implemented, when a child would tell her teacher she is being hurt at home, that child would talk to her teacher, principal, and a school nurse who would examine her. Then the school would call the hotline and a police officer would talk to the child, followed by a social worker and possibly a nurse or physician. If a detective was assigned to the case, he would take the child to a specialized hospital for another exam and another conversation with a social worker. This process would be followed by a conversation with a child protection investigator, a lawyer and finally a counselor. Children were interviewed multiple times by multiple people, causing the child to repeatedly relive the trauma they had experienced.

The CAC model is based on the belief that the combined professional wisdom and skill of the MDT approach results in a more complete understanding of case issues and the most effective child and family-focused system response possible.

The MDT includes professionals who investigate crimes of child abuse and neglect. Typically, the MDT includes law enforcement, child protective services, prosecuting attorneys, juvenile officers, mental health professionals, medical professionals, advocates and forensic interviewers. The team works together to ensure that an investigation revolves around the best interest of a child and to reduce any unnecessary redundancy, including multiple interviews of the child.

This approach has been widely adopted as a best practice in responding to child sexual abuse in the United States. Throughout the United States, there are now 795 Child Advocacy Centers which served more than 311,000 children last year, and this model has now been implemented in more than 33 countries throughout the world.

The Child Advocacy Center of Northeast Missouri uses a trauma-informed approach to provide forensic interviews, advocacy, mental health therapy, and school and community-based prevention education programs.

Children and their families have access to all services regardless of their ability to pay.

Forensic Interviews
Forensic interviewers are trained in a nationally recognized protocol to ask questions in non-leading, non-suggestive ways. The interview is conducted in a child-friendly setting and observed by the MDT through closed-circuit television. The MDT is comprised of members of local law enforcement, child protective services, juvenile officers, mental health professionals, advocates and forensic interviewers.

The DVD of the recorded interview becomes a permanent record and may be viewed as often as necessary by members of the investigative team. This minimizes the need for child victims to repeat their disclosure, while allowing professionals to gather all of the information they need to prosecute the case.

Child & Family Advocacy
Children are often relieved to finally talk about what happened. They often feel better after talking about what happened and can begin to heal.

However, the parent or caregiver is reeling from the disclosure. In addition to the shock of finding out what happened, they may be faced with practical problems like losing health insurance, transportation, food, or even the place they live because the perpetrator is removed from the home.

The Child & Family Advocate is typically the first person to ask an overwhelmed caregiver what they need to get through this trauma and begin healing. They provide resources to help meet urgent needs and support for the child and caregiver throughout the duration of the case. Advocates provide ongoing support, resources, and education and walk them through what can be a very overwhelming and confusing criminal justice system.

Mental Health Therapy
After the forensic interview, children are referred to mental health therapy. The Center has therapists on site. Because the need for therapy is so great, we also contract with local therapists who are trained in trauma-focused modalities.

The purpose of therapy is to create and/or enhance emotional resiliency within the child and their involved caregiver. This helps to reduce the traumatic impact of abuse and to provide healthy coping skills for the future.

All of this creates a healthy environment where trauma-focused mental health services nurture long-term recovery and healing.

Prevention Education
The primary focus of our school-based prevention programs is to educate children about appropriate boundaries and empower victims to disclose abuse to trusted adults.

We also want to improve the way adults respond to disclosures so that children can receive early intervention and protection. We offer Mandated Reporter Training for professionals who work with children and Parent programs tailored to meet their needs.

During the last twenty years, the Child Advocacy Center of Northeast Missouri has become one of, if not the most respected and influential Child Advocacy Center in Missouri. The organization is uniquely qualified to meet the needs of child victims and their families. Those qualifications include, but are not limited to:

•Nearly 6,000 individual forensic interviews with children who visited The Center to talk about what happened to them.

•Sexual Abuse education programs for nearly 255,000 individuals including body safety, internet safety and online enticement prevention for children and parents and mandated reporter training for educators, day care providers, first responders and other professionals who work with children.

•The Child Advocacy Center has presented the Midwest Justice for Children Conference since 2004. The conference has become a training destination for those looking for training that equips them with the new and current tools they need to better respond to children and families in crisis. In recent years, 94% of those attending rated the Midwest Justice for Children Conference as either good or excellent.

•The Child Advocacy Center is led by a board of directors who advise, govern, oversee policy and direction, and assist with the leadership and financial promotion of the agency. Board members may serve two consecutive three year terms.

•The staff is led by the Executive Director and department supervisors including the Supervisor of Forensic Services, Supervisor of Prevention Education, Clinical Supervisor (Mental Health Therapy), Business/Finance Manager, and Development Director.

•The financial strength and stability of the organization comes in part from the diversity of its funding sources. This diversification allows the agency to avoid being too dependent on one funding source. A portion of funding is received through public sources, contracts and grants, and fees for services. A comprehensive development plan has been established to increase funding to the agency, and the agency is growing in its ability to raise private dollars through individuals, corporations, private grant makers, and strategic fundraising events. An annual giving campaign was begun in 2015, and a corporate giving/sponsorship program was implemented in 2016. Individual and corporate funding, combined with a robust grant program, ensure the agency’s financial future.

All of these activities and accomplishments work together to help The Child Advocacy Center of Northeast Missouri achieve our mission: responding to child abuse through a supportive team approach to reduce the trauma to children and their families.

The Child Advocacy Center of Northeast Missouri is one of 15 nationally accredited Child Advocacy Centers, in the state of Missouri that provides services to child victims and their involved caregivers. The Child Center, Inc. has three locations that provide services in the 14 northeastern counties in Missouri.

The Child Advocacy Center was incorporated as a non-profit 501 (c) 3 agency in January 2000, and initial funding was received from DSS. The agency began providing services for child victims in five counties from the Wentzville site. By 2004, the number of counties served grew to 11 and a site was opened in Hannibal, Missouri to serve children in the six northern counties.

By 2008, three more counties in northeast Missouri were added for services by The Child Center, but the commute for them was two hours or more. In December 2010, we opened a site in Memphis, Missouri, making services more accessible for families and team members growing our service area to include the fourteen (14) counties of St. Charles, Lincoln, Warren, Montgomery, Pike, Ralls, Marion, Monroe, Shelby, Lewis, Clark, Knox, Scotland, and Schuyler. The main office is located in Wentzville with satellite offices located in Hannibal and Memphis.

The Child Advocacy Center of Northeast Missouri became an Associate Member of NCA in February 2001 and obtained Full Membership and Accreditation in October 2004. We were reaccredited in 2010 and 2015.