Support for Military Families
NCA is committed to supporting the establishment of partnerships and collaboration between Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) and military installations. We have worked closely with Congress to identify and allocate funding specifically aimed at enhancing these critical relationships. CACs now have access to a dedicated NCA staffer, the Coordinator for Services to Military Families, to support and advise members on military-related matters. Accredited members will also have access to funding to help promote and support military communities with a coordinated investigation and comprehensive response to child victims of abuse, similar to their civilian counterparts.
How do CACs and the military work together?
Our Reports
While some 900 Children’s Advocacy Centers in the United States coordinate the critical multidisciplinary services that child abuse victims need to heal, many children from military families experience barriers to receiving those services. Yet early successes in partnerships between CACs and military installation leadership can serve as a model to improve coordination and serve military families better. We have a roadmap to ensure every military family has access to the services they deserve. Read our new Status of CAC-Military Partnerships 2019, NCA’s report to Congress on the needs NCA, CACs, Congress, and the military are working to meet together, plus highlights from critical pilot programs nationwide and the status of CAC partnerships with the military in all 50 states.
Overall, our field is still in the relatively early stages of building partnerships between CACs and military installations. But every CAC can take action to ensure military families have access to the services they deserve.
In Ready to Serve, released in November 2021, we use 2020 CAC Census data to explore how centers across the country are building relationships with their partners in the military, where we’re succeeding, and where we have additional opportunities to ensure every child in our community who needs it can benefit from trauma-informed, child-focused CAC services.
Where are CACs serving military families?
With the exception of a few locations, most military installations with Family Advocacy Program services have a local CAC within 50 miles of their installation. Click on the link below to view an interactive map and learn more about the locations of installations with Family Advocacy Program Services and CACs.
National Children’s Alliance is dedicated to making CAC services available to every child in the country. To monitor progress on this mission, NCA creates maps each year depicting CAC locations and select details about the areas they cover. In 2021, NCA included military installation coverage in this effort and our goal is to ensure all military-connected children have access to CAC services. Click the link below to access an interactive national map in our eSpatial software system that includes CAC coverage of active duty military installations in the U.S. by their current relationship to local CACs.
How can you help?
Our Partnerships
Currently, CAC military partnerships range from robust, long-standing relationships to those who have no affiliation with their military neighbors. Over time we expect these relationships to evolve and expand as the community of interest grows and becomes more aware of opportunities for partnership between CACs and the military. For CACs, military family program staff, and policymakers, you can help strengthen these critical partnerships by getting in touch with us now.
Our Vision
Future goals include highlighting model practices for collaboration and developing supporting training content for enhanced coordination of services between CACs and military installations. Additionally, NCA is working to formalize key Department of Defense relationships with national level memorandums of understanding to help reduce the administrative burden on CACs.
Learn More
To learn more about the military programs involved in child abuse response, see our fact sheets about the U.S. Air Force, the Army, the Marine Corps, and the Navy. Visit NCA Engage to access the CAC-Military Partnership Webinar Series and other resources (login required). And, don’t miss our One in Ten podcast episode, “Trauma and Resiliency in Military Families,” with Dr. Stephen Cozza.
Get Started
Check out our latest resource, Getting Started with Military Partnerships – A Guide for CACs to learn how CACs can begin establishing the partnerships necessary for providing a coordinated civilian-military response for military families. 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.