About the CAC
Based on a nationally recognized model New Hampshire's second fully operating child advocacy center, the Child Advocacy Center of Hillsborough County-South works closely with area police departments, child protection services, prosecution, mental health providers, pediatricians and schools. At our office in Nashua, we provide a neutral setting for joint investigations and interviews, case tracking and referrals to community agencies for children and families.
Child Advocacy Centers produce important benefits: trauma experienced by children is reduced, non-offending parents are empowered to protect and support their children; children receive prompt and ongoing services tailored to their family's needs; allegations of abuse and neglect are more thoroughly investigated; more offenders are held accountable and the community is better educated about the problem of child abuse. The CAC is also a resource to local police departments, providing consultation and specialized training. This is all provided to children, families and child protection professionals at no cost to them.
Historical Perspective
What used to occur in our state and most others is that when a child disclosed child abuse he or she was then subjected to numerous interviews. The child might be questioned by the parent or teacher who receives the initial disclosure, and then on another day taken to the Police department, where they would be questioned in whatever space was available from a holding jail cell to the back of a police cruiser. Then on another occasion, DCYF would question them at their offices or very often in the home where the abuse may have occurred. Then on a still another day they would visit the doctor for an exam and be questioned and perhaps on another day be questioned by the local prosecutor. The typical child abuse victim would be interviewed an average of eight times by eight separate people with very different questioning styles and pieces of information that they were seeking.
Reducing the Trauma of Children
Multiple interviews of a child abuse victim not only increase the trauma to an already traumatized child but they are counterproductive to conducting a solid investigation. The Child Advocacy Center brings together all pieces of the multi-disciplinary team to one child friendly, neutral location so that one interview can be conducted and all relevant parties are represented. Everyone's questions are asked, and the child only has one investigative interview conducted by a trained forensic interviewer skilled at interviewing children. Nationally collected data reports that one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually assaulted before their eighteenth birthday and that only one in ten discloses the abuse. The CAC seeks to provide the best possible environment for those children reporting and to prevent future abuse through outreach and education. The National Children's Alliance reports that in that in municipalities where a Child Advocacy Center is now utilized as opposed to prior to the Center's involvement, there is a 40% increase in successful prosecution of these cases.
Child Abuse Prevention
While we strive as an agency to reduce the trauma to child victims by providing a coordinated, multidisciplinary child abuse investigation, the true measure of success would be in working to PREVENT child abuse. This is why the Outreach and Educational component of our program is so important. We bring outreach, information, and education to the community and professionals in the field. We will provide the latest information of recognizing, preventing, reporting, and investigating child abuse and neglect. We provide trained representatives from our multidisciplinary team that best fits the target audience to present on a variety of topics.