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Children's advocacy centers provide coordinated forensic interviews and follow-up care, CACVA director says
Summary
Rebecca Simmons told the Commission on Youth that CACs use multidisciplinary teams and forensic interviewing to reduce retraumatization, support prosecutions, and connect children to mental-health and medical services; she said Virginia has 19 CACs but about 15% of the state remains underserved.
Rebecca Simmons, executive director of the Children's Advocacy Centers of Virginia (CACVA), told the Commission on Youth that child advocacy centers bring law enforcement, child protective services, victim advocates, forensic medical professionals and mental-health providers together to coordinate interviews, case reviews and victim support. "A child advocacy center is a nationally recognized evidence based model that brings together multidisciplinary partners to respond to child abuse in a coordinated child-focused way," Simmons said.
Simmons described forensic interviews as the "first point of contact" at a CAC and emphasized that CAC referrals come only from law enforcement or child protective services. "Forensic interviews are uniquely neutral," she said, adding they are designed to be developmentally appropriate, nonleading and legally defensible so that disclosures are documented in ways that can support prosecution while minimizing retraumatization.
The director outlined services CACs provide beyond interviews: family advocates who support caregivers, therapists trained in trauma-focused modalities, and coordinated case-review meetings that many Commonwealth attorneys use to avoid surprises in felony child-abuse prosecutions. She noted Virginia currently has 19 CACs and 10 satellite sites, but "roughly about 15% of the state is still underserved," a gap CACVA says it would like to close. The presentation referenced Virginia Code section 15.2-1627.5 on multidisciplinary child-abuse response teams and explained how CACs often facilitate the 60-day case reviews the statute contemplates.
The commission followed with questions about human trafficking responses, workforce capacity and accreditation; Simmons noted all Virginia CACs are accredited by the National Children's Alliance and that accreditation is renewed every five years. The commission intends to include CAC funding and capacity in a study this year to identify options for expanding coverage.
