4th Quarter Newsletter
December 22, 2021
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About the Florida Network of Children's Advocacy Centers |
Accredited by National Children's Alliance (NCA) as the state chapter of Florida, the Florida Network of Children's Advocacy Centers (FNCAC) is a membership organization representing the 27 Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) throughout Florida.
CACs are child-focused centers that coordinate the investigation, prosecution, and treatment of child abuse and neglect while helping abused children heal. CACs emphasize the coordination of investigation and intervention services by bringing together a multidisciplinary team to create a child-focused approach to child abuse and neglect cases. CACs are effective, hold offenders accountable, help child victims heal, and promote best practice by all of our MDT Partners.
In addition, the FNCAC and CACs are tasked with providing technical assistance, training, education and prevention outreach to members of their local communities.
Together, the CAC Movement in Florida is positively impacting victim services to child victims throughout the state and improving outcomes for kids and their families.
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What is a Children's Advocacy Center? |
A Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) is a child-focused, facility-based program in which representatives from core disciplines collaborate to investigate child abuse reports, conduct forensic interviews, determine and provide evidence-based interventions, and assess cases for prosecution.
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The CAC Movement Advocates Throughout Florida: |
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Central Florida's CRC Network addresses ACE's and their communities preparedness: |
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In Central Florida, a collective effort led by Valencia College’s Peace and Justice Institute is underway to transform the community based on the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), trauma’s impact, and the known elements to promote resiliency in individuals and communities. The CRC Network meets regularly and has identified sector chairs to champion key initiatives that support the overall goals of the network whose mission is to “collaborate across sectors and communities to transform our region into one of prevention, hope, healing, and resilience for all.”
Recently, the cross-sector group identified a need to better prepare future generations to respond in a trauma-informed, culturally competent way to individuals and communities that have experienced ACEs.
In November, Joy Chuba, Jim Jolley and Tyler Counsil presented to the CRC Network on the Child Advocacy Studies (CAST) Curriculum and the simulation training facilitated by the University Missouri at St. Louis. Following the November 2021 presentation, the CRC Network submitted a team proposal for the upcoming simulation training in early 2022!
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Children's Home Society of Florida's CAC Finds Group Therapy a Vital Component of Program Success |
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At Children’s Home Society of Florida’s CAC, group therapy is a vital part of the program's success. CHS - Greater Lakeland's Children's Advocacy Center first began using group therapy three years ago with a Psychoeducation Adolescent Sexual Abuse Support Group. Shortly after the program launched, staff received reports from caregivers that participants' anger had reduced and that significant positive changes were occurring as a result of the group therapy interventions. These positive outcomes reaffirmed the belief in the group therapy model and CHS now has over nine group therapy programs! These groups consist of ages ranging from 5-17.
The current areas of service are Psychoeducation Adolescent Sexual Abuse Support Group, Sexual Abuse Support Group, Traumatic Experience Girls Group, Traumatic Experience Boys Group, Trauma Informed Emotional Regulation Group, LGBTQIA+ Support Group, and Intellectual Disabilities Support Groups. Staff members at CHS say "in large part, getting strong buy in from our clients has been key to making our group therapy programs successful. With a focus on building supportive networks, our group therapy program will continue to empower clients to express themselves and find their voices."
Congratulations to the team at CHS for continuing to meet their clients' needs in such an innovative way!
Learn more about evidence-based therapeutic interventions here: listing
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Statewide Training Efforts For CAC Therapists Yield Success:
An affirmation from Colleen Trojbom
Child Advocacy Center, Inc. - Gainesville, FL
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PCIT (Parent-Child Interaction Therapy) is an evidence-based therapeutic intervention for caregivers and their children aged 2-7 to address behavioral problems, such as tantrums, defiance, aggression, and attachment issues. In this modality, the therapist coaches the caregiver while they play with their child.
PCIT is implemented in two phases of play, one child-led and the other caregiver-led. Child-led sessions focus on the caregiver-child dyad to foster secure attachment, connection, trust, decreased tantrums and negative attention-seeking behaviors, increased self-esteem, and increased pro-social behaviors.
The caregiver-led sessions focus on increasing a caregiver’s sense of confidence and calm when addressing the child’s behaviors, providing caregivers with discipline strategies that support a child’s healthy emotional development, decreasing corporal punishment and physical abuse, increasing a child’s compliance and responsiveness to directions, increased respect for caregivers and caregiver rules, and decreasing aggressive and destructive behaviors.
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One afternoon during spring 2021, I received a phone call from a number I knew well—the number of a caregiver who called often due to the angry, aggressive, and destructive outbursts of her 6-year-old foster child, my client. This time when I answered the caregiver sounded different. She tearfully informed me she and her husband were injured, many items in their home destroyed, following another such outburst; however, this time they called the police.
A few days later, the caregiver and the youth sat in my office. The caregiver sat in one chair, tears flowing silently, her gaze on her hands in her lap. The child sat anxiously on the floor, eyes darting between myself and her caregiver. The child had grown up in a violent home where adults were not safe, and angry feelings were expressed through harming and intimidating others. The caregiver, defeated and frightened, admitted she did not know what to do to help the child, and that she was afraid of her. When the child saw her foster mother crying, she expressed anxiety, shame, and frustration. Both caregiver and child wanted to connect safely but did not know how. Enter PCIT.
The Florida Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers (FNCAC) made it possible for me and other CAC therapists to be trained in PCIT. When I transitioned to utilizing PCIT with the above-mentioned family system, the changes were profound. Sessions provided a safe, controlled environment for rebuilding the relationship between caregivers and child. Through the coaching, the caregivers felt empowered when engaging with their child instead of helpless and afraid. The child bloomed under the positive attention of the caregivers, feeling confident and safe when seeking out connection with them. Caregivers reported a significant reduction in frequency and duration of angry outbursts, a deepened bond between caregivers and child, and effective discipline methods that helped everyone feel safe and calm. They have since graduated from therapy and the foster parents are adopting her and her brother. And they never had to call the police again. I am so grateful for the tools PCIT has given me to work more effectively with the families we serve.
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Thank you to our partner Florida Department of Children and Families
for awarding FNCAC a CJA grant providing funds for the following training:
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Brunch, Bags, & Bingo Returns! |
Join the Florida Network of Children's Advocacy Centers on Saturday, February 5th, 2022 in Tallahassee for Brunch, Bags, & Bingo. This event is held to fund the FNCAC initiative: Cozy Spaces, Safe Places. A program to sponsor room makeovers for child victims who often return to their homes and must sleep in the same place they were sexually or physically abused or experienced other trauma. Having a cozy and safe place to sleep and spend their time can be a key and vital component of a child's healing.
For ticket and sponsorship details for this year's event, click here.
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A very special welcome to FNCAC's newest FSU marketing intern, Robyn Ziade! She will be joining the team for the Spring 2022 term. Robyn has created and publicized fundraisers to benefit those in need. The money and supplies raised were personally delivered to an orphanage in Costa Rica, and to a Charity and Development Organization in Ethiopia. The charity focused on providing growth opportunities to poor, single mothers and their children who had struggled both physically and mentally. Robyn believes all children should have equal opportunities to grow. She is committed to working hard with FNCAC to serve children who have been abused, neglected, and exposed to violence. Helping children in need is a passion for Robyn and she is excited to get started and make a difference in Florida! Welcome to the team, Robyn, see you in January! |
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FNCAC | (850)671-4791 | 501 E. Tennessee St Suite B Tallahassee, FL 32308| www.fncac.org |
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