National Children’s Alliance continues the fight to fund the Victims of Child Abuse Act after being eliminated in the President’s budget

Today, as the National Children’s Alliance (NCA) continued its fight on behalf of abused and neglected children nationwide, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) will began the mark-up phase of a critical appropriations bill that has restored $19 million in vital funding for the Victims of Child Abuse Act and Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs). For the second year in a row, the President stripped funding for CACs in his annual budget request, placing the future of the program in jeopardy.

Today, just like last year, bipartisan Members of the House disagreed and restored full funding for the program.  And next week, NCA will take the fight to the Senate where similar legislation is set to be considered.

“Every day we fight on behalf of children who have been the victims of unthinkable abuse,” said Teresa Huizar, Executive Director of National Children’s Alliance. “Unfortunately, the Administration continues to strip funding from this vital program that not only provides critical services to those in need, but also eliminates inefficiencies in the system, ultimately saving the taxpayer millions of dollars.”

“We are grateful for the overwhelming show of support from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, and we will continue fighting to ensure funding for CACs is included in the President’s FY 2015 budget request and beyond,” said Huizar.

The funding cut by the Administration did not go unnoticed by members of the House of Representatives. More than 50 members sent a bipartisan letter in April to Congressmen Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Chairman and Ranking Member of the House CJS Subcommittee on Appropriations, urging funding to be restored to the Victims of Child Abuse Act.

Child abuse costs the American people $124 billion per year.  CACs save money by making coordinated investigations more efficient and more effective. In fact, a cost-benefit analysis showed that traditional investigations cost 36% more than CAC-collaborative investigations. CACs also share the goal of stopping abuse before it even starts. Nationwide, and in just the last year, CACs provided child sexual abuse prevention education to more than 500,000 individuals – adults and children.

For more information about National Children’s Alliance, visit www.nationalchildrensalliance.org.

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National Children’s Alliance is the national association and accrediting body for the over 750 Children’s Advocacy Centers and 47 State Chapters serving each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Dedicated to helping local communities respond to allegations of child abuse in ways that are effective and efficient, and put the needs of child victims of abuse first, National Children’s Alliance provides support and advocacy to its accredited membership, as well as numerous developing centers, multidisciplinary teams and child abuse professionals around the country, and the world. As the national authority on multidisciplinary approaches to supporting child victims of abuse, the purpose of National Children’s Alliance is to empower local communities to provide comprehensive, coordinated and compassionate services to victims of child abuse. Founded in 1990, National Children’s Alliance provides accreditation opportunities, financial assistance, training, technical assistance, research and education to communities, child abuse professionals and children’s advocacy centers throughout the United States in support of child abuse intervention, advocacy and prevention.