To ensure that all children across the U.S. served by Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) receive consistent, evidence-based services that help them heal from abuse, the vast majority of our member CACs have become Accredited by meeting our National Standards of Accreditation, and all 50 State Chapters have met the Standards for Accredited Chapter Members. About every five years, these standards are updated to reflect the latest evidence and practice. Then, we work with our Accredited Member CACs and Accredited Chapters on a five-year cycle to help them meet these new, higher standards of practice and, for CACs, we perform site reviews to ensure children receive the highest quality services possible. Every child deserves all we can do.
The collected National Standards of Accreditation for Children’s Advocacy Centers, comprising 9 individual standards and representing the work of more than 130 child abuse intervention professionals and experts working from the latest research, are the benchmarks by which Accredited Members of NCA are measured.
The 2020 Edition of the Standards for Accredited Chapters outlines the high standards of practice for our State Chapter Organizations, providing advocacy, training, and other services to the CAC movements in each of the 50 states. This edition includes guidelines and sample strategies for the achievement of the standards. The new Chapter Standards took effect January 1, 2020, and are currently in effect.
Contact our Accreditation team at accreditation@nca-online.org with questions.