Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) are locations within a community where abused children and their non-offending family members can go following a report of sexual abuse.

These local centers provide:

  • Child forensic interview
  • Information and education
  • Referrals to medical exams and mental health support
  • Ongoing advocacy and support to the child and family for the life of the case

CACs are the home for multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) responding to a report of child abuse and crimes against children. A CAC is a youth focused safe environment for children where MDT members convene, so the child does not have to go to see each professional separately. This reduces the chance of additional trauma and the number of interviews or disclosures the child must give, reducing potential evidence collection errors and increasing the chance of successful prosecution.

Special Services

For Professionals

Investigating crimes against children and responding to individual child victims is challenging professional work. Perpetrators count on a child’s statement lacking credibility in both the justice and child protection systems. Child victims have unique needs and the professionals responding to child victims of crime and abuse must have specialized training and skills.

A full multidisciplinary team (MDT) of professionals includes:

  • Prosecutors
  • Law Enforcement
  • Child Protective Services
  • Mental Health Providers
  • Medical Providers
  • Victim Advocacy

The Montana Child Sexual Abuse Response Team (MCSART) program provides training, resources and technical support for each of the six professional disciplines on an MDT. MCSART also provides team training and will travel to any Montana community to support the development of a team approach to child victims of crime and abuse.

Investigations conducted by MDTs are more effective and less stressful for victims. Rather than a child victim having to face multiple interviews by different people representing different agencies, MDTs conduct one, coordinated interview.

This team approach:

  • Improves evidence collection through forensic interview and forensic medical exam techniques;
  • Reduces the potential of contaminating evidence through multiple interviews;
  • Provides victim support to traumatized children and their non-offending caregivers.