The dandelion's pallid tube astonishes the grass,
And winter instantly becomes an infinite alas.
- Emily Dickinson
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Using grant funds, provided by the National Children's Alliance (NCA), CACI has been able to offer Illinois CACs these individualized & highly specialized mentors for forensic interviewer, accreditation, new directors, organizational capacity, and other needs as determined through CACs and the chapter.
Take a sec to read their impressive bios & answers to a couple of silly questions:
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Lynn Aladeen
Lynn grew up in the Kansas City, MO area (Go Chiefs!) and has also lived in Iowa and New York before moving to the Chicago suburbs 11 years ago. She is married and has 2 adult children who live in Buffalo, NY.
Lynn has a Master’s degree in Counseling and Guidance & has worked for a number of CACs in the states of Illinois and New York for more than 20 years. She became a forensic interviewer in 2006 & has conducted over 3700 interviews of alleged victims of child physical and/or sexual abuse & trained numerous forensic interviewers.
She currently conducts interviews for the Lake County CAC, provides supervision for the forensic interviewing program at the CAC of Niagara, contracts with CACI to develop & provide forensic interview training & to mentor new interviewers.
Question: What TV show or movie do you absolutely refuse to watch?
Answer: I refuse to watch is Dr. Pimple Popper.
Question: What word do you always mispronounce?
Answer: I always mispronounce Espresso (I say expresso).
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Ali Alstott
Ali holds a bachelor’s degree in Early Child Education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from University of Chicago. With over ten years working within the child welfare system alongside multi-disciplinary teams at Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center, Ali worked in various roles including MPEEC (Multi-disciplinary Pediatric Education and Evaluation Consortium) coordinator, forensic interviewer and forensic interviewer supervisor. She has coordinated over 1,500 cases of serious harms cases in Chicago children under three and has conducted over 2,000 forensic interviews of children who have alleged maltreatment, sexual abuse, exploitation or who have witnessed violent crimes. Ali has trained social workers, medical personnel, law enforcement, state’s attorneys, forensic interviewers, educators and other relevant professionals at local, regional and national levels on forensic interviewing, multi-disciplinary collaboration, child development, delayed disclosure and employing best practice in the care of maltreated youth.
Question: If you had to listen to 1 song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Question: What’s a pet peeve that you would make illegal if you could?
Answer: Chewing food/gum loudly
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Traci Mueller
Traci started her career with Children’s Advocacy Centers in 2002 as the first Executive Director of Shining Star Children’s Advocacy Center, covering Lee & Ogle County, Illinois. She then moved to DeKalb County Children’s Advocacy Center as the Director & the Forensic Interviewer. In 2010, Traci returned to Shining Star CAC where she continued to provide the forensic interviews & testify as an expert witness for child abuse cases until her retirement in April of 2019. She has been interviewing children involved in physical or sexual abuse investigations for the past 15 years and has interviewed over 1500 children and teens. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Illinois State University. Traci worked with survivors of abuse for the over 20 years & 17 of those years was with CACs.
In retirement Traci continues to be involved with CAC’s as a Forensic Interviewer Mentor, providing mentoring to interviews throughout the state. She now has her “fun” retirement job as a morning preschool teacher at the local catholic school getting to play with 4 and 5 year olds! Traci is a wife, mother of four girls & happy Nana of one little girl & one little boy!
Question: One thing I will never do again.
Answer: Make Jambalaya. One night I decided to make it for dinner when our girls were little and no one would eat it, including myself because it was spicy!! They still bring it up... "Remember that one time when Mom thought making Jambalaya would be a good idea!!" Who knew!!
Question: If I had a Warning Label it would read
Answer: Beware Overly Blessed and Overly Positive!!! Negativity not Allowed (drives my family crazy!!)
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Jan Lutz
An ongoing journey of volunteer service has combined with professional development as Jan Lutz serves the nonprofit community as a volunteer & paid consultant.
The executive director of the Indiana Chapter, Jan is responsible for facilitating the development, growth & sustainability of CACs in Indiana. Jan became involved with CACs through Junior League, a women’s leadership organization, & helped develop 2 CACs through her volunteer service.
Jan is a member of the MRCAC Advisory Board, the Governor’s appointed Children’s Justice ACT Taskforce & is Vice President on the Board of Directors of ChildFirst™ Indiana. She serves on Indiana’s statewide SART team, the Indiana Emergency Nurses Association Project Committee & Victim Assistance Training Project Steering Committee. Jan is a CAC site reviewer for accreditation & grant reviewer for NCA. Additionally, Jan is a private consultant for Chapters, CACs, Junior Leagues & nonprofits around the country.
In June 2014 Jan received NCA’s Outstanding Chapter Leader Award & in May 2015 she
received the Community Award from the Junior League of South Bend, IN.
Question: What song will you never forget the lyrics to?
Answer: It's a tie - Dangling Conversation by Simon and Garfunkel and kd Lang singing Hallelujah
Question: What job would you be terrible at?
Answer: I would be terrible at any job where there is no interaction with people. COVID-19 has been so difficult for me for this reason. Zoom has been my life line.
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Billie Larkin
Billie has dedicated herself to children’s advocacy. From 1995 to 2007, Billie was the Executive Director for the McLean County Children's Advocacy Center. She retired as the Executive Director for Children’s Advocacy Centers of Illinois after 9 years (2007 – 2018).
Since 2002, she has been a grant reviewer for the National Children's Alliance (NCA). From 2003 to present, Billie has served on the NCA Chapter Committee, reviewer and implementation of accreditation standards. And beginning in 2005, she has been a site reviewer for NCA accreditation standards.
For almost 20 years, Billie has been a trainer and/or presenter on grant writing, organizational capacity, MDT and team building. She presented at the NCA Leadership Conference in 2008 and 2009 with topic areas: Economic Think Tank and Membership Service Delivery. From 2005 to present time, Billie has been a Victim Impact Panel Member - Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA).
Billie has served on the Board of Directors for North and Northwest Cook County CAC since 2019.
Question: If you could take a month to travel anywhere, where would you go?
Answer: WOW that is hard especially during the continuing restrictions on travel. We are seriously considering a trip to Sweden next summer, but also are talking about Ireland and Scotland. If it is in the US only, a month in Door County would work just fine with me.
Question: What was your first job?
Answer: In high school, I worked at Ruhl’s Clothing Store in Freeport, Il after school and on the weekends. I’m not sure I sold much but I certainly purchased a lot :-)
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Child Abuse or Accident?
Bringing Science to Pediatric Emergency Departments and Forensic Investigations
NIJ-funded researchers are developing a probability model to predict child head injuries in falls.
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The "RockStar RoundUp" is aimed at helping us reach our $10,000 goal that will help support CACI's long-term financial health and well-being. YOU can change the future of tomorrow's rockstars by rounding up your purchases each month, giving monthly or even a one-time gift!
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As National Child Abuse Prevention Month (April) is fast upon us, we are beyond grateful for the support of the ROCKSTARS at KEB!
KEB was founded in 1931 and is a mid-sized firm of certified public accountants, management consultants and business advisors with eight offices in three Midwestern states.
🎶🎸 THANK YOU for supporting CACI, & most importantly,
the kids of Illinois!
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Urge Congress to Fix VOCA - National Children's Alliance
Here's an email template for House and Senate offices you can use! Dear [staffer name], My name is [your name and CAC name], and I am a constituent writing you from [your location], and I urge you to support and co-sponsor the bipartisan,...
Read more
www.nationalchildrensallian...
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Medical Training Academy: Pediatric/Adolescent Sexual...
Home / Medical Courses / Medical Training Academy: Pediatric/Adolescent Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (PSANE) Course - Spring 2021 $349.00 The Spring 2021 session of the course begins on April 1, 2021. Medical Training Academy:...
Read more
www.mrcac.org
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I would just like to thank everyone for the warm welcome! These first few weeks have been a whirlwind of learning, Zoom calls, and getting to know the team here at CACI. Thanks to everyone I've met and worked with, this transition has been so smooth and I'm excited to be here and can't wait to continue to learn and grow with you all.
Please feel free to reach out with a hello or any questions you might have for me!
Here are some easy icebreakers, guaranteed to get a quick response: book recommendations, March Madness, all things personal finance (duh, right?), or your favorite podcasts.
Chief Financial Officer
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FY21 VOCA Grant Period is now July 1st, 2020 through September 30th 2021. If you have any questions around the extension of FY21 or the additional funds, please let me know.
Reminder: FY21 Q3 Quarterly reports are due April 9th, as April 10th falls on a Saturday.
VOCA Program Grant Monitor
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VOCA Fiscal News
CESF fiscal reports, along with supporting invoices and documentation for March expenses are due Monday, April 5, 2021.
VOCA fiscal reports for March expenses are due Friday, April 9, 2021.
Reminder: The PFR form is the official expense report. PDF copies with two signatures are required to be submitted each month. Signed PDF copies and the PFR Workbook in Excel format should be uploaded to AmpliFund in the Public Folder in the Fiscal Reports folder for the appropriate month.
AmpliFund Support: Michael and I are available to help answer questions on entering expenses, closing periods, submitting payment requests, and uploading documents. Please let us know if you would like to schedule a time for individual training.
VOCA Fiscal Grant Monitor
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The Pediatric Resource Center Medical Aspects of Child Maltreatment will be held digitally this year, and will be available March 24, and June 29, 2021. Please pass this important training opportunity on to your team members. DCFS and MCLE credits are available.
We have the Advocate Roundtable approaching, and we will have these roundtables quarterly as of now the first will take place March 30th 10-11:30 AM, here is where your advocates can register here Advocate Roundtable
The Collaborate Forum is being offered bi-monthly for all CAC staff starting the April 2nd forum has been canceled the next forum April 16th 9-10:00 AM This is an opportunity for Collaborate users to network, assist one another with overcoming challenges and share ideas. Here is the link for those interested in registering here Collaborate Forum
MHS is a form of professional development which helps therapists continue to grow, learn, and adapt to challenges emerging in their practices. It is a collaborative, voluntary model, facilitated by an experienced therapist, but it also provides a setting in which peers can share ideas, and offer support and feedback to one another.
Homeland Security is hosting a training May 10th 9-12 PM titled Prepare and Predict Method: Presenting Evidence in the Forensic Interview. This training allows FI to prepare victims for the evidence that will be presented to them in the FI process, while providing them an opportunity to predict what it is they are about to see and/or discuss with the FI. Here is the link for registration Prepare and Predict
The MDT Coordinator Roundtable is coming up, May 19th 10-11:30 Am giving your MDT's the opportunity to network, assist one another and discuss how to overcome challenges. Here is where your MDT's can register here MDT Coordinator Roundtable
SAVE THE DATE!!!! INTERVIEWING BEYOND SEXUAL ABUSE
JUNE 15 & 16 2021
Registration will open in Mid April. This training will focus on the importance of interviewing children about a multitude of issues including physical abuse, witness to violent crime, and psychological abuse.
Training and Prevention Specialist
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Meet Reggie the Hedgehog
Reggie is a hedgehog with a big heart who finds himself struggling because of scary memories from his past. With the help of a caring teacher, he learns to be resilient with tools he didn't know he had all along. Join Reggie as he finds hope and strength through his journey of coping.
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Meet the Author
McKenzie Hensen is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the State of Illinois and a certified Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Counselor (TF-CBT model). She also works for the Lake County Children's Advocacy Center!
McKenzie works with children and teens who have experienced trauma in their past. After working with children for years in this capacity, she was inspired by the resiliency seen in these young people on a daily basis. This encouraged her to create a story with the hopes of having children and teens turn inward and use the strengths they carry to cope, overcome troubles, and continue to be resilient.
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