Resources for CAC-Military Partnerships

CACs play an important role in ensuring military families get the coordinated care they need. Learn more by exploring the resources below created by National Children's Alliance and the CAC-Military Partnership Collaborative Work Group to support your work with military partners to strengthen services for military families. 

Be sure to also check out Working with Military Families: A Toolkit for CAC Victim Advocates, a collection of trainings and resources for victim advocates working with military families.

Military MOUs: Learn More Here

Additionally, NCA has created a Resources for Military Partners page specifically to meet military needs. On this page military partners can learn about the CAC model, NCA Accreditation Standards, and other resources to support collaboration with CACs.

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Getting Started with Military Partnership Videos

Click a video below to watch.

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Getting Started with Military Partnerships - A Guide for CACs

For many CACs, it can be difficult to know how to begin establishing the partnerships necessary for providing a coordinated civilian-military response for military families. The purpose of this resource guide is to help CACs get started. 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.

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Children's Advocacy Centers Take Action

Building on past progress, CACs are poised to take big strides forward in their partnerships to enhance services to military families. 

In Children's Advocacy Centers Take Action, released in November 2024, we use 2023 CAC Census data to explore how centers across the country are building relationships with their partners in the military, key areas of collaboration success, and steps all CACs can take to ensure that military families have access to coordinated care and CAC services, no matter where they live.

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When Your Client Has a Connection to the Military

WHAT CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY CENTERS NEED TO KNOW

Screening for military affiliation at intake is the first step CACs must take to ensure comprehensive and coordinated services for military families. And to effectively identify these families, CACs must also understand the various types of military affiliations that families can have. This fact sheet shows how CAC clients may be connected to the military and what key considerations are for each affiliation type.

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How Key Military Roles Support Children and Families in Child Abuse Response

Fact sheets for key roles in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Coast Guard

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, the Navy, and the Coast Guard

Army

How Key U.S. Army Roles Support Children and Families in Child Abuse Response
View this fact sheet

Marine Corps

How Key U.S. Marine Corps Roles Support Children and Families in Child Abuse Response
View this fact sheet


Navy

How Key U.S. Navy Roles Support Children and Families in Child Abuse Response
View this fact sheet

Air Force

How Key U.S. Air Force Roles Support Children and Families in Child Abuse Response
View this fact sheet

Coast Guard

How Key U.S. Coast Guard Roles Support Children and Families in Child Abuse Response
View this Fact Sheet


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CAC-Military Partnership Webinars and Trainings

NCA developed these webinars and training events for CACs and their military partners to expand their knowledge of the role each play in serving military children and families in responding to allegations of child abuse and how they can partner for effective coordination of services. Please see the product listing below. Users must be logged in to access trainings. 

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  • Introduction to the Department of Defense Family Advocacy Program (2025)
    Contains 3 Component(s), Includes Credits Includes a Live Web Event on 01/23/2025 at 2:00 PM (EST)

    This webinar will introduce participants to the Department of Defense Family Advocacy Program, key partners in NCA's national military MOUs. Representatives from Department of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Department of the Air Force will present on the unique aspects of how the Family Advocacy Program operates in each branch of service to meet the unique needs of military families. Recommendations for effective collaboration will be discussed and an opportunity for Q&A will follow the live presentation. The webinar recording will be available on NCA Engage following the live event.

  • Military Community Advocacy: Programs Shaping Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) and Harmful Behaviors In Children and Youth Policy
    Contains 3 Component(s), Includes Credits

    Join us for a webinar featuring a key partner in NCA's national military memorandums of understanding. In this webinar, participants will learn about Department of Defense (DOD) Military Community Advocacy (MCA) programs and policies, including the Family Advocacy Program. Topics to be covered will include an overview of the teams that make up MCA, an introduction to the role of the Family Advocacy Program, policy priorities, and more. During the live event, participants will have the opportunity for Q&A and discussion with MCA Director, Lolita Allen. The webinar will be recorded and available for viewing on NCA Engage after the live event.

  • Introduction to NCA's Military MOUs
    Contains 3 Component(s) Recorded On: 06/21/2024

    This webinar provides an introduction to NCA's Military MOUs for CACs.

  • Introduction to Children’s Advocacy Centers for Military Partners (2024)
    Contains 3 Component(s), Includes Credits Recorded On: 04/02/2024

    In this webinar, participants will learn about the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) model, CAC services, the role of the MDT, National Children’s Alliance (NCA) accreditation, opportunities for CAC-military collaboration, and the role of national MOUs in establishing case coordination. Opportunity for Q&A will follow the live presentation. The recording of this webinar will be available as an archived recording on NCA Engage after the live event. Please Note: You must have an NCA Engage account to access this webinar. Military partners are eligible to create an Engage account to access trainings to support their work with CACs. Please visit the NCA Engage Getting Started Guide and complete a new user form. When the form requests that you enter an organizational ID, please enter “non-member”. Approvals of Engage accounts can take 24-72 hours. For support with joining NCA Engage, please contact Wendy Luikart at wluikart@nca-online.org

  • Introduction to the Military Legal System
    Contains 3 Component(s) Recorded On: 10/05/2023

    This webinar will provide an introductory orientation the military legal system. Participants will learn about the Uniformed Code of Military Justice and the differences between civilian and military legal systems as well as the role of the newly established Office of Special Trial Counsel. Participants will also gain an understanding of the unique challenges of prosecuting cases involving active-duty military members and military families. Opportunity for Q&A will follow the presentation.

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Trauma and Resiliency in Military Families, a One in Ten Podcast Episode

When we think of military families, we rightly think of sacrifice and duty. But do we also think about resiliency, perseverance, and a sense of community? The unique sense of identity that comes with military service comes with a complex set of supports and struggles for service members. Dr. Stephen Cozza, a researcher and professor at the Uniformed Services University, joins us to explore the unique strengths and challenges of military families. What are the risks and protective factors that we should be aware of in working with military families? How does the phases of deployment and re-entry create some points of unique vulnerabilities that we need to attend to? And at a time when many soldiers are returning, how can we support families? We invited Dr. Stephen Cozza, a researcher and a professor at the Uniformed Services University, to speak with us about the unique strengths and challenges of military families. Take a listen.

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When Abuse Strikes Twice, a One in Ten Podcast episode

What causes revictimization? How can we prevent it? There are common factors that contribute to child abuse and neglect that may affect any family: job stress, food insecurity, and intimate partner violence, to name just a few. But military families face additional stressors. Miranda Kaye, Ph.D., associate research professor at Penn State’s Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness, and her colleagues set out to examine what, at the individual, family, and community levels, contributed to revictimization. And the findings about community were perhaps some of the most surprising.


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Ready to Serve: When CACs and Military Agencies Team Up, Kids Are Better Off

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.


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Status of CAC-Military Partnerships 2019

Children’s Advocacy Centers and the Military: Where We Are, and Where We’re Going Together

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 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.

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Where is the closest Military Base to your location?