2025 So Far - Trainings, advocacy, and more!

So far, CACC has had a busy year! Since January, CACC has provided 3 peer reviews for 39 forensic interviewers and 5 family advocates. These peer reviews are a chance for professionals to review their work with colleagues and improve their skills for working with abused children and their families. CACC has also held monthly Accreditation Office Hours and Family Advocacy Office Hours. These drop-in meetings are times for people to get specialized support for their programs, and over 45 people took advantage of these offerings!

In April, CACC hosted its Annual Meeting. This yearly event brings together CAC professionals and multi-disciplinary team partners from around California to learn about the latest trends in child abuse response. This year's theme was "R.E.S.E.T - Respond, Empower, Strengthen, Engage, and Transform," which explored how CAC leaders can build stronger partnerships both within their teams and with the communities they serve. The 2-day event featured speakers Lindsey Dula of the National Forensic Interviewing Network and Deanna Chancellor of the Native Child Advocacy Resource Center. Dula presented "I Used to Go for the Donuts:  How We Engage the MDT" and helped attendees learn about effectively engaging multi-disciplinary team partners. Chancellor presented "Three Areas of Consideration for MDTs and CACs when Engaging with Native Nations," and attendees learned about how to serve the native populations in their areas. Another exciting portion of the Annual Meeting is the annual Capitol Visit. Event attendees visited legislators' offices in Sacramento to educate lawmakers about the work happening to help victims of child abuse and their families.  

Despite the busy training and technical assistance schedule, CACC has also been deeply engaged in statewide advocacy. This year, CACC has focused its advocacy on addressing the impending cuts to Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funds. These federal dollars are, traditionally, given to states to administer to victim service providers. In California, these are the only state dollars available to children's advocacy centers, like CALICO. Due to shifting priorities at the federal level, VOCA funds given to states have been unstable and dwindling. CACC is working with the VOCA Advocacy Alliance to ask the state of California to provide a backfill to ensure victim service providers can continue to provide the vital and life-saving services.

As we look forward to the rest of 2025, CACC is excited to continue providing support to our members. During the next few months, we will continue offering peer review and office hours, as well as offering a training about secondary trauma, and continued legislative work to ensure stable funding for children's advocacy centers. Keep an eye out for more exciting CACC news!