Alyson MacKenzie is the Director of Accreditation at National Children’s Alliance, and manages the accreditation process for Child Advocacy Centers throughout the country. Previously Alyson was the Senior Program Associate of Accreditation at NCA as well as Program Associate at NCA, managing grants and membership for the Southern Region of the United States. She has a Master’s Degree in Social Work and a Certificate in Human Service Management from Boston University. Ms. MacKenzie has years of experience providing training and technical assistance to Children’s Advocacy Centers across the country.

Alyssa Todd worked as an Investigative Social Worker for Vermont CPS for almost five years, then moved to Philadelphia for grad school, where she continued to work with youth in foster care. She moved back to Vermont and became the Director and Forensic Interviewer of a small Associate Member center in Brattleboro, VT in 2012. In 2016 the Center became fully Accredited with NCA under Alyssa's leadership. Alyssa joined NCA in September 2019 as a member of the accreditation team, and assisted with the most recent revision of the Standards for Accredited Centers.  Alyssa provides training and technical assistance to CACs as they navigate the accreditation process.  She is particularly interested in forensic interviewing and vicarious trauma.  

Teresa Huizar was appointed the Executive Director of National Children’s Alliance, February 26^th, 2008.  National Children’s Alliance, headquartered in Washington, DC, is the national association and accrediting body for nearly 900 Children’s Advocacy Centers in the US.  These centers provide comprehensive services to child victims of abuse including:  forensic interviews, victim advocacy, medical evaluations, and mental health treatment. Children’s Advocacy Centers coordinate the multidisciplinary team as it carries out its investigative, prosecutorial, and treatment functions.  In 2018, Children’s Advocacy Centers served over 367,000 child victims of abuse, and provided child abuse prevention education to more than 2 million individuals.

Prior to her tenure with NCA, Ms. Huizar served as the Executive Director of the Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center, a technical assistance and training center for­­­ two hundred Children’s Advocacy Centers and multidisciplinary teams in twelve Western states.  And, has served as the Executive Director of two local Children’s Advocacy Centers.

Ms. Huizar has a special interest in public policy in the child welfare arena, especially, in reducing child abuse fatalities and in the provision of trauma-focused, evidence-supported mental health treatment to child victims of abuse.  She has testified before Congress on child abuse issues.  And, she has conducted and participated in numerous child abuse-related Congressional briefings.  Ms. Huizar has been interviewed by CNN, WSJ, USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News, NPR, and numerous other media outlets, on child welfare policy matters.

Ms. Huizar has served on numerous related Boards and Committees over the years.  She is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and the Steering Committee of the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths.