It has been an interesting past six months, but through all of the adjustments and challenges, our focus has not changed. Assuring child protection and supporting families during difficult times has remained a priority for the Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) at Child Advocacy. This has never been more important than during this past six months with stay home orders, online schooling, and many community services changing the way they support children and families due to COVID-19 precautions.

The CAC has continued to conduct face-to-face forensic interviews for allegations of physical and sexual abuse throughout. Beginning in Mid-March when stay at home orders for the State of Michigan were in place, the CAC quickly developed an updated protocol to include COVID-19 precautions, so there would not be a lapse in this essential service. The protocol updates included a COVID-19 screening process, the inclusion of updated sanitation practices per Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations, and the wearing of masks.

Additionally, the follow-up services of the CAC have evolved during this time to address the barriers presented by COVID-19 restrictions. Many of the follow-up victim advocacy services lend themselves to distance means of follow-up such as by telephone or through use of technology (virtual). However, some of the follow-up services such as group facilitation took not only technology, but also a bit of planning and patience by those involved.

By April, we had maneuvered our way through the virtual world and were ready to begin implementing both our Middle School and High School Girls Art Therapy groups using technology. In all, there were 10 Girls Art Therapy groups held via Zoom during the spring and summer 2020 (see picture of Heart Stories projects below). As schools have now returned to some face-to-face instruction, and restrictions have lessened, we are looking forward to hosting our first Girls Art Therapy groups face to face since March. Although we will be back face-to-face this fall, it will look much different from in the past as we will be meeting outside, wearing masks, using additional sanitation measures, and will be assuring 6 feet social distancing. Nevertheless, we are so excited to see the girls back in person and are happy to take the added precautions for health and safety. We know that recommendations may once again evolve, but feel confident that we can adapt based on our previous experiences.