There are no other organizations in Nebraska facilitating a network for the Child Advocacy Centers. The Nebraska Alliance of Child Advocacy Centers consists of the seven Child Advocacy Centers and provides them with grant opportunities, training opportunities, legislative action/education, communication on child welfare issues, and support for their individual center’s accreditation - a cadre of services which are rooted in the enhancement of the national Child Advocacy Center model. Through this relationship, the seven Child Advocacy Centers are able to provide consistent, high quality services to Nebraska’s children.

A Child Advocacy Center (CAC) offers an alternative way of serving abused children through a comprehensive approach to services for victims and their families. CACs stress coordination of investigation and intervention services by bringing together professionals and agencies as a multi-disciplinary team to create a child focused approach to child abuse cases. Key components of a child advocacy center include forensic interviewing, medical evaluations, advocacy and support, therapeutic intervention, case review and tracking. CAC locations are not only child-focused, but designed to create a sense of safety and security for child victims. The goal is to minimize the level of trauma experienced by child victims and to ensure that children are not re-victimized by the very system that is designed to protect them.

Law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental health, medical and victim advocacy, and the child advocacy center work together to conduct interviews and make team decisions about investigation, treatment, management and prosecution of child abuse cases. Child Advocacy Center services and members of the teams generally include:
• A Multidisciplinary Team Response
• Child and Family Friendly Facilities
• Forensic Interviewing Services
• Victim Advocacy and Support
• Specialized Medical Evaluation and Treatment
• Specialized Mental Health Services
• Training, Education and Support for Child Abuse Professionals
• Community Education and Outreach

Satellite offices allow children, family members and law enforcement personnel to access child advocacy center services at locations that are closer to home while ensuring these families receive the high-quality services available at the primary center. Nebraska currently has 10 satellite offices across the state. The satellites ensure that every child in all 93 counties in Nebraska has easier access to forensic interviews, advocacy services, and the support that Child Advocacy Centers provide to families every day.

The Nebraska Child Advocacy Centers are each responsible for their own fundraising and revenue generating activities. Six of the seven Child Advocacy Centers are separate 501©3 organizations with their own separate Board of Directors, fiduciary responsibilities, policy and procedures, etc. The seventh Child Advocacy Center is a hospital-based program where the hospital is responsible for the Child Advocacy Center’s functioning and a separate advisory board is in place.
The sources of revenue for each Child Advocacy Center varies. Typically, the Child Advocacy Centers have a blend of state and federal government funding, private support through foundations/ special events/ workplace giving programs, and through earned income. The amounts of each category that each Child Advocacy Center receives varies among each organization.

The Child Advocacy Center Model is a national model, originally developed out of Huntsville, AL in 1986. Each Child Advocacy Center in Nebraska has adopted and operates off of the national Child Advocacy Center model. When a Child Advocacy Center achieves accreditation (and re-accreditation every five years), the Child Advocacy Center exemplifies that it meets all ten standards employed by the Child Advocacy Center model from the National Children’s Alliance (NCA).
NCA is the national association and accrediting body for a network of more than 850 Children’s Advocacy Centers and 50 Chapters. NCA provides support, advocacy, quality assurance, and national leadership for Child Advocacy Centers, all to help support the important work that Child Advocacy Centers do in communities across the country.