Issue 28 | September 2023

Engaging Military Partners in the Multidisciplinary Response to Child Abuse

An array of resources is available to support children’s advocacy centers (CACs) efforts to include military partners in the multidisciplinary team response and ensure that services are coordinated with military systems. Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (WRCAC) supports MDTs and CACs across the western region through training and technical support and encourages CACs and MDTs to consider their military partners when developing services in their communities.

According to the Department of Defense 2021 Demographics Report, there are more than 1.6 million children in U.S. military families. Military families have many strengths and resources, and they experience unique stressors and challenges associated with military life. When child maltreatment occurs in a military family, military programs and systems may become involved in the case. Children’s advocacy centers can play a critical role in ensuring military-connected children have access to the full scope of military and civilian services and that investigations and services are well-coordinated and nonduplicative.

The National Children’s Alliance (NCA) Status of CAC-Military Partnerships Report – 2019, states that nationally 70% of CACs are within 50 miles of a military installation. While some military families live in base housing on military installations, most live in communities alongside their civilian neighbors across the country. This means that any CAC within driving distance of a military installation may serve military families.

Here in the western region, there are 55 military installations with a Family Advocacy Program (FAP) and 81 CACs within 50 miles of military installations. The NCA report contains a thorough review of the number of installations and CACs in each state, together with insight into services provided to military families and unique challenges CACs may be facing in partnering with military installations.

This chart represents the breakdown of CACs within 50 miles of a military installation in the western region as well as the number of military installations in each state that have a FAP.

State	Military installations with a FAP	CACs within 50 miles of military installations
Alaska	4	4
Arizona	5	9
California	20	23
Colorado	5	11
Hawaii	4	2
Idaho	1	0
Montana	1	1
Nevada	2	3
New Mexico	4	6
Oregon	0	1
Utah	2	8
Washington	6	12
Wyoming	1	1

One of the first goals of NCA’s military partnerships initiative was to establish a national work group, bringing together CACs and military partners to identify learning needs and develop resources to meet those needs. The CAC-Military Partnership Collaborative Work Group (CWG) was formally established in 2018 and is comprised of over 100 representatives from CACs, state chapters, regional CACs, all branches of the military, and other key partners around the country.

WRCAC staff have served as part of the CWG since its inception and have helped the group develop fact sheets, training videos, toolkits, webinars, and other resources to support CACs in their work with military programs. On June 7, 2023, the CWG hosted the first ever CAC-Military Partnership Forum in Washington, DC, in conjunction with NCA’s annual Leadership Conference. WRCAC and Northeast Regional Children’s Advocacy Center (NRCAC) staff presented at the inaugural forum and look forward to supporting a second forum in conjunction with NCA’s 2024 Leadership Conference. Be on the lookout for a save the date announcement coming soon.

Within the western region, there continue to be opportunities to develop CAC and military partnerships with military installations near CACs. CACs can implement practices that help to bridge gaps in services and prevent military families from not accessing the support they are eligible to receive through the FAP. Review the resources below for ideas about beginning the partnership journey with your local military installation.

The CWG is committed to continue to move the work with military and CAC partnerships forward and is currently evaluating recommendations from the Status of CAC-Military Partnerships Report that include CAC screening and case tracking for military affiliation as well as developing further joint CAC and military training to enhance coordination. Contact Heather Provencher, NCA’s Coordinator of FBI and Military Initiatives, if you would like more information or are interested in joining the CWG supporting CAC and military partnerships.

NCA has led the efforts in this area and is committed to ensuring that CACs have what they need to address the unique needs of military-connected children and that military families have access to CACs in their communities. Funded by a grant from the United States Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), some areas of support include:

Subgrants Program

Under a cooperative agreement with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), NCA administers the Coordination of Children’s Advocacy Center Services for Military Families national subawards program. Through this program, accredited CACs may be awarded grants of up to $50,000 to expand CAC access to military families. Funding can be used to identify, develop, and operationalize best practices to help military installations address cases of child abuse; leverage partnerships and establish protocols for serving military installations; and establish or expand the coordinated investigative and comprehensive response to child abuse to military families. From 2018-2023, over 30 different centers—including CACs throughout the western region-- have used the funding opportunity to strengthen their partnerships and as a result, services to military families.

Formalizing Partnerships

NCA is in the process of finalizing a set of national military memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with military criminal investigative organizations and the family advocacy programs in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force. These MOUs pave the path for CAC-military coordination and will eliminate the administrative burden of individual CACs negotiating MOUs locally with installations. Accredited CACs will be eligible to sign on to participate in the MOUs through a process used to opt-in to the NCA-FBI MOU.

Heather Provencher is also available to support your efforts to establish or strengthen military partnerships. Please reach out at [email protected] or click here to schedule a virtual meeting to discuss how NCA can support your work with military families. To learn more about how WRCAC can support your CAC with military partnerships, please reach out to Salli Kerr, Training Specialist at [email protected].

Resources

Find military installations near your CAC

Except for a few locations, most military installations with Family Advocacy Program services have a local CAC within 50 miles of their installation. Click here view an interactive map and learn more about the locations of installations with Family Advocacy Program Services and CACs.

Key roles in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy

To learn more about the military programs involved in child abuse response, check out NCA’s fact sheets for Army, Marine Corps, Nav y, and Air Forc e.

Getting Started with Military Partnerships - A Guide for CACs

For many CACs, it can be difficult to know how to begin establishing the partnerships necessary for providing a coordinated civilian-military response for military families. The purpose of this resource guide is to help CACs get started. By following the seven steps outlined in this guide, CACs will be well positioned to ensure that military families in their community have access to the coordinated response they deserve. Be sure to check out the short video series to hear from CACs working with military partners across the country about how they’ve built strong and effective partnerships to better serve military families in their communities.

Working with Military Families: A Toolkit for Victim Advocates

Victim and family advocates play a critical role in engaging military partners in the MDT and ensuring military families have full access to CAC services. It is important that victim advocates are oriented on key aspects of military culture, the unique needs and strengths of military families, and resources available for support. In the toolkit, advocates can access essential trainings, resources, and fact sheets on these topics as well as sample forms and templates to support efforts to strengthen services to military families.

CAC-Military Partnership Webinars and Trainings

The CAC-military partnership webinar series provides introductions to the military programs responding to allegations of child abuse in military families and explores how CACs can partner with the military for effective coordination of services. Visit NCA Engage to access 10 webinar recordings, with more planned in the months to come. NCA Engage is available to members of NCA free of charge.

Military OneSource

Each of the service branches has established a Family Advocacy Program (FAP) that provides and coordinates a range of services for victims, parents, partners, and service members. FAP addresses child abuse and neglect and domestic or intimate partner abuse through advocacy and clinical supportive services, and prevention efforts through early identification and education. It also coordinates with other key military and civilian agencies to ensure the availability of safety and support. For more information, visit https://www.militaryonesource.mil/leaders-service-providers/child-abuse-and-domestic-abuse/

Military Child Education Coalition

MCEC supports all military-connected children by educating, advocating, and collaborating to resolve education challenges associated with the military. With a history of over 25 years, MCEC’s strategic goals include ensuring that military-connected children’s academic, social and emotional needs are recognized, supported and appropriate responses provided, and that supporting adults are empowered with the knowledge to ensure military-connected children are college, workforce and life-ready. For more information, visit https://www.militarychild.org/

Click here for more resources on CAC-Military partnerships

Salli Kerr

Training Specialist

Western Regional Children's Advocacy Center

[email protected]

Salli Kerr has over five years of experience as an Executive Director and CEO in the non-profit sector and was instrumental in the formation and accreditation of the state chapter of children’s advocacy centers in Nevada. As Executive Director, Salli led a multi-service center that housed the Nye County Children’s Advocacy Center, the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Nevada and other service organizations for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and other crimes. Salli’s background of providing direct services, including foster-parenting, provides her with a unique perspective on the impact of trauma in the lives of victims and the positive influence that a coordinated response has on victims’ recovery and wellness.

Department of Defense (DoD), Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy (ODASD (MC&FP)). (2021). 2021 Demographics Report: Profile of the Military Community. https://download.militaryonesource.mil/12038/MOS/Reports/2021-demographics-report.pdf

National Children’s Alliance. (2019). Status of CAC-Military Partnerships Report 2019. https://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NCA-Report-CACs-Military-2019-corrected.pdf

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WRCAC is supported by cooperative agreement #15PJDP-22-GK-03062-JJVO awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.