Resources for Military Partners

Over 900 Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs) are available to provide services to children and families across the country. Learn more about the CAC model, CAC services, and how you can partner to provide coordinated services to military families by exploring the resources below. 

Have questions or need additional information? Please reach out to Heather Provencher, NCA's Senior Manager for Federal Partnerships.

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What is a CAC?

When police or child protective services believe a child may be experiencing abuse, the child is brought to the CAC—a safe, child-focused environment—by a caregiver or other “safe” adult. At the CAC, the child tells their story once to a trained interviewer who knows the right questions to ask in a way that does not not retraumatize the child. Then, a team that includes medical professionals, law enforcement, mental health, prosecution, child protective services, victim advocacy, and other professionals make decisions together about how to help the child based on the interview. CACs offer therapy and medical exams, plus courtroom preparation, victim advocacy, case management, and other services. This is called the multidisciplinary team (MDT) response and is a core part of the work of CACs.

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Why CAC-military partnerships?

Click a video below to watch.


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Resources

Click here to access the Acronym List for Military Partners. - The list contains commonly used acronyms used by local Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs).

Getting Started Guide for Military Partners (coming soon)

The process of a CAC and its partners

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Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs)

NCA has established seven memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with Military Criminal Investigative Organizations (MCIOs) and DoD Family Advocacy Programs (FAPs) to support CAC-military partnerships nationwide including: 

NCA-Military Criminal Investigative Organization 

  • U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Division (CID) – for Army  
  • Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) – for Navy and Marine Corps 
  • Department of the Air Force, Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) – For Air Force and Space Force 

NCA-Family Advocacy Program 

  • U.S. Army Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G9 - for Army 
  • Headquarters Marine Corps, Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Marine and Family Programs Division – for Marine Corps 
  • Commander, Navy Installations Command – for Navy 
  • Department of the Air Force – for Air Force and Space Force 

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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. 

  • 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

  • Children’s Advocacy Center-Military Case Review
    Contains 3 Component(s) Recorded On: 09/24/2021

    In this webinar, participants will learn about NCA's case review standard, the importance of coordinated CAC-military case review, and strategies for effective, military-inclusive CAC case review. The live event will include opportunity for Q and A.

  • Victim Support and Advocacy for Military Families
    Contains 3 Component(s) Recorded On: 04/28/2021

    This webinar will help Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) and military partners understand the different and complimentary roles of the military Family Advocacy Program (FAP) clinician and the CAC family advocate. Participants will learn about the NCA victim advocacy and support standard for accredited centers and hear how one CAC-FAP partnership coordinates advocacy and support services for military families.

  • Child Abuse Reporting in the Military
    Contains 3 Component(s) Recorded On: 02/25/2021

    An introduction to the role of the Defense-State Liaison Office and its initiative on child abuse and neglect identification and reporting.

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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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Where is the closest CAC to your location?

NOTE: Military partners have access to CAC contact information through a different link provided to the military partner leadership. Contact your leadership, or Wendy Luikart (wluikart@nca-online.org), for access to this link.