Educating and advocating our elected officials in Washington on CACs and the kids we serve is critical to helping them better understand the role they play in helping kids and families heal. This live pre-conference Hill Day prep session with NCA’s Government Affairs Department will allow participants to discuss current legislative proposals impacting CACs, and help them prepare for their upcoming meetings with their US Representatives and US Senators.

Denise Edwards, Senior Director of Government Affairs

Will Laird, State Government Affairs Officer

Join a live welcome session to NCA 2021 Virtual Leadership Conference with Teresa Huizar, NCA Executive Director.

Teresa Huizar, Executive Director, National Children's Alliance

Track: Rural

Families residing in rural and frontier communities and on tribal lands face multiple challenges in accessing high-quality, evidence-based mental health services. Developing creative solutions to complex barriers can support positive outcomes for children and their families affected by trauma. Participants in this session will learn how to create a network of trained mental health professionals utilizing telemental health to meet the unique challenges remote communities face in accessing care

Brenda George, Executive Director, Children's Alliance of Montana

Charles Wilson, , Western Regional Children's Advocacy Center

Paula Reed, Executive Director, Children's Advocacy Centers of Washington

Track: Research & Innovative Practices 

This presentation will begin with a review of research on multidisciplinary team functioning and outcomes in Children's Advocacy Centers. Next, we will describe the process of adapting an evidence-based team training intervention for use with CAC multidisciplinary teams. We will provide an overview of the adapted intervention and present pilot data on feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and fidelity. We will close by discussing how teamwork affects CACs’ capacity to implement new practices.

Elizabeth Ann (Miller) McGuier, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Mikele Bay, Executive Director, Children's Advocacy Center of McKean County

David J. Kolko, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, Pediatrics, and Clinical and Translational Science, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Track: Chapter

In response to a national deficit in education about child abuse and neglect, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi introduced a paradigm shift by creating the first statewide program to implement Child Advocacy Studies Training (CAST) in multiple colleges and universities throughout the state. The presentation will introduce the CAST program and present findings on a study of its implementation (including CAST schools’ partnerships with CACs) and an assessment of student outcomes.

Karla Steckler Tye, Executive Director of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi

Theodore Cross, Senior Research Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Yu-Ling Chiu, Research Specialist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Track: Advocacy & Communications - Learn about child trafficking through the lens of an anti-trafficking collaborative with special attention to the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), strategies for cross-system collaboration, and projected next steps. Attendees will study the coalition's accomplishments and strategies including enhanced accessibility of specialized services and referrals for CSEC, addressing the needs of immigrant and refugee youth, executed community and professional trainings to raise awareness of trafficking and empower communities to prevent it, and Former Youth Survivor Advisory Board.

Alea Cummings, CVHT Program Coordinator + Lead Therapist, Philadelphia Children's Alliance

Kelly Sagastume, Program Manager of Project PROTECT and Child Advocate Social Worker, Support Center for Child Advocates

Track: The Business of Child Advocacy

All forms of bias may be present at all stages of child abuse investigations. This workshop will explore explicit, implicit, and confirmation biases and the impact these biases have on the investigative process.  The workshop is intended for Children's Advocacy Centers and members of the multidisciplinary team including law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, and forensic interviewers that investigate child abuse cases.

Michele Greenburg, Forensic Interviewer/Trainer, Independent Contractor

Renee Roman, Consultant, Independent Contractor

Measuring the outcome of healing in survivors can be difficult and communicating how survivors heal can be even more so. As the namesake of both state and federal legislation, Jenna Quinn of Jenna’s Law, will share her gripping story of surviving child sexual abuse and how her local Children’s Advocacy Center cultivated justice and healing for her and her family. Refreshingly transparent, Jenna guides you through her miraculous experience, as she shares the ups and downs of maintaining hope, healing, and advocacy through Post Traumatic Growth. Having worked with countless survivors and advocacy centers all across the country, Jenna details the many ways survivors heal and shine in the face of abuse. 

Opening Plenary Sponsored By VidaNyx

Jenna Quinn, M.S, Opening Keynote, “The Jenna Quinn Law”

Track: Rural

Indigenous communities represent a major gap for CAC coverage, yet many CACs are already serving Native American and Alaska Native youth and families, providing a road map for all. This session will focus on initiating and strengthening relationships with key stakeholders from these communities and build upon existing work. Highlighting examples from interviews with CACs will provide realistic strategies for others to replicate. We will also discuss principles that will lay the foundation for future collaboration. 

Lisa Stark, Training and Technical Assistance Specialist, National Native Children's Trauma Center

Maegan Rides at the Door, PhD, LCPC, Director and Principal Investigator, National Native Children’s Trauma Center

Mari Mukai, Chapter Coordinator, Alaska Children's Alliance

Pam Karalunas, Child Advocacy Center Consultant, Karalunas Consulting

Megan Sherman, Coordinator Supervisor, Alaska CARES

Grant EchoHawk, MDT/CAC Coordinator, Ketchikan Child Advocacy Center

Track: Research & Innovative Practices 

One of the hallmarks of the CAC model is providing children with the opportunity to be heard; to raise their voices about what they have endured and to speak to what they will need to heal. By using nationally standardized approaches, voices of children can be amplified to inform CAC, community, state, regional, and national practices. This workshop will demonstrate how guiding principles, research expertise and knowledge contributed from CAC staff and leadership intersected to create and launch the OMS Youth Feedback Survey. Lessons learned from survey development and implementation will be shared, including how to overcome barriers and use results to improve the quality of programs for children, families, and communities.

Elizabeth M. Cross, PhD, CEO, Cross Associates Research & Evaluation Services

Kaitlin Lounsbury, MA, Program Evaluation Coordinator, National Children's Alliance

Theodore P. Cross, PhD, Senior Research Specialist, Children and Family Research Center, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Wendy A. Walsh, PhD, Research Associate Professor, Crimes against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire

Track: Research & Innovative Practices 

This workshop is targeted toward CAC staff who work directly with clients, as well as partner agencies such as law enforcement, child welfare, prosecutors, and mental health workers. The presentation will include information about the special needs protocol created by the Oklahoma County Child Advocacy Center (The CARE Center) as well as culturally relevant information regarding working with children who have special needs, mental health diagnoses, and/or cases with special considerations. 

Hannah Griffis, M.Ed., LPC-C, , The CARE Center

Track: Advocacy & Communications

How can we prevent a crime when the victim is the one creating the images used to exploit them? In this workshop we will discuss how to better understand these behaviors in children and adolescents using a developmental perspective. We will share free resources from NCMEC to address this issue with children of all ages. Lastly, we will discuss how to build successful prevention programs in your local community addressing all facets of online exploitation including self-generated content.

Kathryn Rifenbark, Program Manager, Survivor Services, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Susan Kennedy, Prevention Program Manager, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Track: Chapter

This presentation will share the results of a collaborative effort to develop and implement an interactive virtual discussion group designed to help professionals acknowledge and address the impact of trauma and build resiliency within their teams. Developed using the curriculum “Building Resiliency in CACs and MDTs” developed by Children’s Advocacy Centers of Michigan and adapted from materials created by the Office of Victims of Crime, “Building Resilient MDTs” provides a forum for understanding the core elements of resiliency, and how to apply the concepts to the MDT. Participants will learn about the Building Resilient MDT curriculum, how it has been used, and takeaways from implementing the discussion-based model.

Patty Terzian, State Liaison, Western Regional Children's Advocacy Center

The National Children’s Alliance proudly recognizes outstanding individuals and groups that have demonstrated their commitment and dedication to children and their families through the promotion of the Children’s Advocacy Center model and mission. The mission of the National Children’s Alliance is to promote and support communities in providing a coordinated investigation and comprehensive response to child victims of abuse. The goal of CACs is to improve the community’s response to child abuse and to minimize the trauma to children and their families. This is accomplished through the coordination of law enforcement, child protective services, prosecution, medical services, mental health services, advocacy, and education.

Meet with NCA Executive Director to review the CAC movement’s accomplishments and milestones. All conference attendees are invited and encouraged to attend.

Teresa Huizar, Executive Director, National Children's Alliance

Track: Research & Innovative Practices

Multidisciplinary Teams (MDT) have long been utilized to form strategies for the sexual abuse of children by adults, but studies show that up to 40% of alleged child sexual abuse cases referred to CAC’s occur between children. MDTs often find themselves inadequately prepared to determine the varying developmental and contextual needs of adolescents that initiate problematic sexual behaviors. The focus of this training will be to examine the systemic needs of MDTs and how they can form best practices by developing policies and procedures that are empirically supported and informed.

Geoff Sidoli, MSW, LCSW, Coordinator of Mental Health Programs, National Children's Alliance

Track: Advocacy & Communications

With children isolated at home and away from social supports and mandated reporters, chances for child sexual abuse disclosure are limited. This session will discuss the importance of reassuring children that help is still available, and healing is still possible despite the pandemic. We discuss reaching children directly where they are spending much of their time during and post pandemic. Family Support Line’s public awareness campaign is the first of its kind in Pennsylvania. It was uniquely created to target tweens and teens specifically, using child sexual abuse awareness messaging via social media. The campaign features sponsored ads on Instagram and Facebook that are geographically targeted and filtered by age and interests. They incorporate the call-to-action to visit the link in our Facebook and Instagram bios for resources and help. Join us to hear our lessons learned as we reach children on social platforms. 

Content correction: As noted in our presentation we did see an increase of cases since Covid, however we incorrectly noted the following statistics: 20% increase in the last half of 2020, 48% increase in January 2021, 95% increase in trafficking cases and a 22% increase in overall cases for FY21 compared to FY2020 with two more months to go.

Aje King, Public Awareness Intern, Family Support Line

Sarah S. Gibbons, Executive Director, Family Support Line

Karen Fiore, Owner and Creative Director, Fiore Design

Track: Research & Innovative Practices

The negative consequences of trauma take a disproportionate toll on Black youth due to the compounding stress of unique race-related stressors. We'll discuss racial trauma, organizational barriers and facilitators to service utilization at CACs, and  strategies for considering culture and integrating racial socialization in TF-CBT for Black youth. 

Isha W. Metzger, PhD, LCP, Assistant Professor, University of Georgia

Track: The Business of Child Advocacy

If a child’s report of abuse goes unread, the consequences can be fatal.  We'll introduce principles from the Toyota Production System that any CAC can apply to improve case coordination services, using Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center’s Toyota-guided transformation as a case study. You'll get templates and tools you can implement immediately.

Ben Greenberg, Outcomes Analyst - Direct Services, Dallas Children's Advocacy Center

Track: Research & Innovative Practices 

In this panel discussion, Enhance Early Engagement (E3) participants share the impact this NIMH research and training grant had on their victim advocates, on the mental health services delivered through their CAC, and on the children and families they serve. E3 trainers will moderate.

Libby Ralston, Director Emeritus, Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center

Michelle Miller, Ph.D., Project Coordinator, Mental Health Initiatives, National Children's Alliance

Workshop Panelist, , 

Track: Chapter 

Are you a Chapter leader thinking of expanding the support and evidence-based training you offer  CACs? Are you a CAC leader thinking of implementing a new evidence-based practice but unsure of the challenges you will face? Come see how the Illinois Chapter went from minimal support for mental health professionals to offering a cadre of services, and the impact that had on the Will County CAC.

Track: Advocacy & Communications

Every 5 hours in the U.S., a child is killed by abuse or neglect. While CPS works to right-size its response and avoid disruption of families whose problems are rooted in poverty, a call to a CPS hotline is still the single greatest predictor of future injury and death to young children. How can policies be changed to reconcile both sides of this issue?

Amy C. Harfeld, National Policy Director, Children's Advocacy Institute

Denise Edwards, Senior Director of Government Affairs, National Children's Alliance

Track: Research & Innovative Practices

Familiarize yourself with the powerful features available in NCAtrak case management system, including recently implemented features, ask the NCAtrak team questions, and gain insight on general database management and reporting best practices regardless of the case tracking system you use.

Gary Cossaboom, NCAtrak Manager, National Children's Alliance

Troy Price, NCAtrak Training & Application Specialist, National Children's Alliance

Track: Research & Innovative Practices

Explore current trends and take this opportunity for critical reflection on outcomes and outputs at CACs across the U.S. Learn how to improve measurement and evaluation so you measure what matters for CACs.

Kaitlin Lounsbury, MA, Program Evaluation Coordinator, National Children's Alliance

Dr. Kristi K. Westphaln, Assistant Professor/Adjust Instructor, Assistant Professor, UCLA School of Nursing; Research Associate, UH Center for Child Health and Policy, Adjunct Instructor, CWRU School of Medicine

Marie Masotya, Senior Research Project Coordinator, University Hospitals Rainbow Center for Child Health and Policy

Track: The Business of Child Advocacy

Join self-proclaimed "Vinyasa Vixen" Larkin Silverman for an accessible, affirming, and empowering trauma-informed Embodied Movement practice that draws from on the varied modalities Chair Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Barre, and dance designed to get you out of your head, into your body. In this scaleable 45-minute workshop, participants will learn seated stretches with progressive standing and mat options, to connect to your breath with intent, take stock of your internal resources, and take up space - intentionally devoting energy to yourself. Learn the power in taking intentional, deliberate rest, and getting your own needs met before you work towards serving others. 

What does it mean to teach trauma informed movement? 

Trauma, (or “toxic stress”), is resultant from the experience of an external event or events that overwhelm our systems; “un-digestible event(s).” When we are traumatized our body’s normal ability to self-regulate and find homeostasis gets completely out of whack, and creates a body that can feel inhabitable. These traumas can be interpersonal, institutional, and/or structural, and take myriad forms.These traumas could also be vicarious - think traumas borne witness to in the course of professional work. 

Any movement modality and practice (whether Asana, Pranayama, running, barre, crossFit etc) is by its nature a physical one.We all have many layers and levels of experience and we bring these with us onto our mat, or into the workout. We don’t have to be obsessive about what our students are bringing into our studio with them, or go beyond our bounds as a fitness instructor, but as teachers leading folks through movement and body work, we do have a duty to create safety for the most amount of people walking through our doors as they undertake that practice in our classes. Exercise is an awesome and integral piece of self-care, and can be immensely empowering and healing. We want our students to feel a sense of ease and joy practicing or working out with us, and not be shamed, hurt, or punished by or in their bodies.

Trauma-informed yoga means not exacerbating existing trauma, and holding space that allows folks to find ease: 
• Students can find and exercise agency and control (make choices to modify or amplify, for example) in their physical practice (perhaps your student has not had autonomy over their own body)
• Reconnect with their body as a site of safety 
• Practice self-regulations; especially in breathing
• Practice and find homeostasis  - stability, equilibrium in parasympathetic nervous system
• Find a practice interoception: feel and understand what’s going on within your own body 
• Find and practice proprioception: (relative position of one’s body in relation to the room/context)

Tenants of a trauma-informed practice: 
• Orienting - orient students to the room, to the practice; establish boundaries and structure of the class
• Grounding - “Take up space”
• Resourcing - validate needs

It is critical that movement professionals who seek training to teach from a trauma informed perspective maintain a clear scope of practice and do not attempt to fill the role of therapist or supplant accredited professional 

What is barre fitness? 

Barre is a high-repetition, low-impact, full-body workout that fatigues the muscles through precise movement done to the beat of the music to build strength, and facilitates length, by deeply stretching the muscles after they are worked as a release. The signature “shake” that so many experience in Barre is a sign that the muscle has reached the point of fatigue.
Barre is rooted in Ballet, hence, the literal bar used in barre, and many of the French names for the most common moves and positions. As a distinctive workout modality, Barre’s origin is credited to the acclaimed German dancer and activist Lotte Berk who created the workout after sustaining a back injury - her Barre classes combined the ballet bar with rehabilitative exercises. Barre combines elements of ballet, strength training, aerobics, Pilates, and yoga.

What is body neutral fitness? 

While Body Positivity - the social movement rooted in the belief that all human beings should have a positive body image, and be accepting of their own bodies as well as the bodies of others -  has gained cultural prominence, Body Neutrality is a framework that posits all bodies are inherently worthy and that striving for positivity is not the end goal. While Body Positivity posits that beauty is a construct of society, and that this construct should not infringe upon one's ability to feel confidence or self-worth, it has largely been co opted via social media and can still fall into rhetorical traps founded in our toxic Diet Culture. Body Neutrality has roots in the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement, fat acceptance movement, and is a tenant of Body Liberation - an intersectional social justice movement aimed at restoring equity to historically marginalized bodies - bodies of Color, Disabled Bodies, gender non-confroming bodies, and Trans bodies. 

In a Body Neutral movement practice, modifications or ‘customizations’ are normalized and celebrated, and all choices are offered without qualifiers. We deliberately find alternatives to industry norm verbal cues and language that belittles and shames in a misguided attempt to motivate clients. The focus is never on IWL and/or aesthetic ‘results.’ Effectiveness is framed as uncovering newfound strength, stamina, and ability in ourselves. We use caution and care, cognizant of the explicit and implicit messages we send about the inherent worth and value of all bodies. 

Yoga supply recommendations: 

You don’t need to spend a ton of money to invest in your self care, and yoga and fitness equipment is becoming more and more readily available from major retailers. That being said, investing in a high quality mat can enhance your practice immensely. 

My personal favorite padded yoga mat - B Yoga Strong: 

https://us.byoganow.com/?aff=3...

15% off with promocode ‘VINYASAVIXEN_15’

My personal favorite standard yoga mat - TVLA Yoga Align: 

https://tvlashop.com

15% off with promocode ‘LARKIN15’

• Check out this link for all of my favorite recs and exclusive discount codes: 

https://www.vinyasavixen.com/q...

• Find common household swaps for fitness equipment here: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CI...

• Access a FREE Embodied Movement guide here:

https://www.vinyasavixen.com/e...

Larkin Silverman, Certified Trauma E-RYT Yoga & Barre Fitness Instructor, Vinyasa Vixen Fitness

Wednesday Update with Teresa Huizar, Executive Director 

Teresa Huizar, Executive Director, National Children's Alliance

Track: Research & Innovative Practices

The Protection Clarification is a mental health direct service practice for caregivers designed to affirm their child's reality of abuse, clarify their response to knowledge of the abuse, support the child's healing, empower the caregiver as a protective resource, and more. It provides guidance to child welfare agencies regarding future safety for visitation and for caregiver-child reunification.  

Track: The Business of Child Advocacy 

The Regional CACs have developed a conceptual model for a team facilitator that expands the definition of the role in the multidisciplinary team and elevates the position as essential to building team trust, nurturing relationships, fostering accountability, and improving outcomes for children and families. Let's discuss what's essential for strong MDT leadership.

Karen Hangartner, LMSW, Project Director, Southern Regional Children’s Advocacy Center, National Children’s Advocacy Center

Sue Ascione, Training Specialist, Northeast Regional Children’s Advocacy Center

Vicky Gwiasda, Program Manager, Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center, Chadwick Center for Children and Families

Track: Advocacy & Communication

Most prevention curricula for adults focuses on warning signs for sex offending but don't address known risk and protective factors for first-time offending. Let's talk about changing social norms, creating nurturing relationships, and maintaining safe environments--analyzing relationship boundaries and their intersections with personal and organizational culture to prevent child sexual abuse.

Danise Elijah, BA, Violence Prevention Community Educator, CARES Northwest

Sally Blackwood, MA, LPC, Violence Prevention Community Educator, CARES Northwest

Track: The Business of Child Advocacy

Across the country, CACs are developing innovative, exciting projects that are game-changers for our movement. Join a panel of NCA grantees as they share their accomplishments, challenges, and tips on how to carry out a successful grant year.

Dominic Prophete, JD, Chief Executive Officer, Wynona’s House, Newark, NJ

Faith Muddiman, MS, Director of Grants Management, Dorchester Children’s Advocacy Center, Summerville, SC

Kay W. Phillips, Ph.D., LISW-CP, Executive Director, Dorchester Children’s Advocacy Center, Summerville, SC

Marsha Pigga, Executive Director, The Children’s Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Scranton, PA

Thirjeet Matharu, MSW, Senior Coordinator of Family Advocate Volunteer Initiative, Wynona’s House , Newark, NJ

Michelle Shores, RN, MSN, MBA-HC, CEN, SANE-A, SANE-P, Director of Forensic Health Services, Palomar Health Child Abuse Program, Escondido, CA

Track: Research & Innovative Practices - Learn from the challenges faced by our team at the Calgary & Area Child Advocacy Centre in implementing a remote CCTV testimony room to provide children and youth an alternate way to provide testimony in criminal court. We'll discuss the scientific theory about why this may increase accuracy of testimony and assist in the quest for a just decision based on the truth.

Dr. Sarah MacDonald, Forensic Interview Specialist, Calgary and Area Child Advocacy Centre

Melanie Grylls, Director, Programs and Services, Calgary and Area Child Advocacy Centre

Join the live raffle drawing for the Exhibitor Scavenger Hunt and Q&A Attendance. One winner from the Exhibitor Scavenger Hunt will be chosen to receive a free 2022 Leadership Conference registration, and five Q&A LIVE attendees will be selected to receive a $30 DoorDash gift card. 

Heather Provencher, LCSW, Senior Manager for Federal Partnerships, National Children’s Alliance

This is a uniquely difficult time for leaders and staff in workplaces all over America. A deadly pandemic is barreling through the world, there are deep divisions that have exposed within our country, parents are being asked to balance working and homeschooling their kids simultaneously, and according to recent studies, Americans are the unhappiest they have been in the past 50 years. Needless to say, navigating all of the aforementioned challenges can have a significant impact on one's overall resilience and mental health. The Unstoppable Resilience keynote will provide the audience with highly-practical strategies to build unshakable strength within themselves and within their teams. 

Shola Richards, Closing Keynote, CEO & Founder of Go Together Global