Ohio Network of Children's Advocacy Centers Information

Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) are child-friendly facilities that help abused children heal and thrive by coordinating the investigation and treatment of child sexual abuse and providing children and families access to long-term advocacy and care. With CACs, child abuse victims are more likely to access critical mental health and medical services and are less likely to be traumatized by a complex criminal justice system. By convening a multi-disciplinary team of professionals from law enforcement, child protective services, medical and mental health care, victim advocacy, prosecution, and others, CACs save communities money through collaboration, protect the public by holding offenders accountable, and encourage the development of a trauma-informed, culturally-competent and comprehensive response to child abuse to ensure long-lasting positive outcomes. In short, CACs can’t change what happened before children got there, but they can change what happens next. Ohio Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers (ONCAC) is a state coalition that promotes the establishment and success of Multidisciplinary Teams and Children’s Advocacy Centers by providing support, education, and networking opportunities to enhance Ohio’s response to child abuse. We are a movement made up of 40 (and growing) CACs and MDTs serving children throughout Ohio. To achieve our vision, ONCAC provides services to support the growth and development of CACS so young victims will have access to a strong, localized, and multidisciplinary response and receive the unique services needed to begin their journey towards healing.