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HARFORD COUNTY CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER RECEIVES NATIONAL ACCREDITATION

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Child Advocacy Center for Harford County has received accreditation from the National Children's Alliance. National Children's Alliance is a nationwide not-for-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote and support communities in providing a coordinated investigation and comprehensive response to victims of severe child abuse. The Child Advocacy Center was first accredited in 1998 by the NCA. The Child Advocacy Center of Harford County is one of only four accredited child advocacy centers in Maryland.

The letter notifying the Child Advocacy Center of the accreditation stated, "As a member of this growing movement of Children's Advocacy Center, this evaluation is a celebration of the hard work accomplished by your community. National recognition shows that you are leaders in this movement." The Child Advocacy Center was visited by reviewers from Arizona and Minnesota in April of this year who concluded that "there were no recommendations for improvement." There are 10 standards that include 66 different criteria for accreditation. These standards address: Child Appropriate/Child Friendly Facility; The Multidisciplinary Team, Organizational Capacity, Cultural Competency and Diversity, Forensic Interviews, Medical Evaluation, Therapeutic Intervention, Victim Support/Advocacy, Case Review, and Case Tracking.

The Child Advocacy Center was begun in 1992 to use a task force approach to child abuse investigation and prosecution. The current staff includes 4 child protective service workers from the Department of Social Services, 2 deputies from the Sheriff's Office, 1 trooper from the Maryland State Police, 2 prosecutors, a family advocate and an administrative assistant from the State's Attorney for Harford County.

National Children's Alliance states that, "The purpose of Children's Advocacy Centers is to provide a comprehensive, culturally competent, multidisciplinary team response to allegations of child abuse in a dedicated, child-friendly setting. A child appropriate/child-friendly setting and a multidisciplinary team are essential for accomplishment of the mission of Children's Advocacy Centers and for accredited membership in National Children's Alliance."

The team response to allegations of child abuse includes forensic interviews, medical evaluations, therapeutic intervention, victim support/advocacy, case review, and case tracking. These components may be provided by Children's Advocacy Center staff or by other members of the multidisciplinary team. To the maximum extent possible, components of the team response are provided at the Children's Advocacy Center in order to promote a sense of safety and consistency to the child and family.

In 2003, the CAC handled 276 cases, in 2004, they had 322 cases and for this calendar year the CAC is projected to handle 368 cases. The cases involve sexual and physical abuse of children and computer crimes involving children.