Here you will find information, tools, and resources about issues affecting MDTs, CACs, and Chapters around the country. Please note that additional resources can be found on the Regional Children’s Advocacy Centers’ collaborative website or on other partner sites.
Need help? Reach out to Sarah Kletter, if you experience any difficulty downloading the referenced materials, are in search of additional resources, or have other questions.
Click on each arrow to see the resources in each category, then click on each title to open or download the document.
Building and Sustaining Your Children's Advocacy Center's Medical Program
This toolkit is designed to help you establish and maintain your medical program to serve victims of child abuse. As a CAC, one of many key roles you play is making available and/or providing medical services to your clients. The medical component is part of the National Children's Alliance Accreditation Standards, and the medical provider is a critical piece of the multidisciplinary team. This tool will help you determine where your center falls along the spectrum and how to both establish and improve your center’s medical programming.
The resource is divided into several sections with embedded documents to help best serve you in developing your programming. Several of the items listed in the Medical section below are included, as well as dozens of additional tools; sample documents, forms, and protocols; job descriptions; equipment lists; and multiple others. The sections span a variety of topics, including initial foundational logistics and considerations, professional development of CAC staff, meeting accreditation requirements, and continuous quality improvement of your program.
Overall, this tool will help support you as you work to provide medical evaluations that are competent, child-centered, and trauma-informed to best meet the needs of the kids and families you serve.
Key Resource: CAC Medical Toolkit
Building and Sustaining Your Children's Advocacy Center's Medical Program
This toolkit is designed to help you establish and maintain your medical program to serve victims of child abuse. As a CAC, one of many key roles you play is making available and/or providing medical services to your clients. The medical component is part of the National Children's Alliance Accreditation Standards, and the medical provider is a critical piece of the multidisciplinary team. This tool will help you determine where your center falls along the spectrum and how to both establish and improve your center’s medical programming.
The resource is divided into several sections with embedded documents to help best serve you in developing your programming. Several of the items listed in this section are included, as well as dozens of additional tools; sample documents, forms, and protocols; job descriptions; equipment lists; and multiple others. The sections span a variety of topics, including initial foundational logistics and considerations, professional development of CAC staff, meeting accreditation requirements, and continuous quality improvement of your program.
Overall, this tool will help support you as you work to provide medical evaluations that are competent, child-centered, and trauma-informed to best meet the needs of the kids and families you serve.
CAC Director Resource: Orienting Your Medical Provider to the CAC and Multidisciplinary Team
This document is designed to assist the CAC Director in orienting the medical provider who will be conducting medical evaluations for children seen at their center either on-site or off-site and as an employee, through a linkage agreement, or through a contract. It is not uncommon for a new medical provider to think that their only task is to provide medical examinations. It is important that they understand the full scope of their responsibilities so that they understand what they are taking on in this capacity as part of the Multidisciplinary Team (MDT). This document is a high-level outline of the different responsibilities they may be asked to undertake and can be added to in greater detail to help to orient them to the other multidisciplinary team members in the context of your community.
Medical Provider Guidelines: What is the Role of the Medical Provider for Children Under 12 with Problematic Sexual Behaviors (YPSB)?
This document, developed by the Midwest Regional CAC and our Child Abuse Medical Advisory Council, is designed to assist Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) and State Chapter organizations assess the gaps in medical care for child sexual abuse victims and provide steps for improving this care along the continuum. Because of geographic location, availability of medical providers with expertise in child abuse, and budgetary constraints, centers will fall along the spectrum of meeting the National Children’s Alliance (NCA) Medical Standard for Accreditation. This tool can be utilized to implement all criteria in the “Meets Standard” category to be in compliance, but suggests additional components to implement, thus providing the child and their family with the most desirable medical care possible.
The Importance of the Medical Exam: What MDT Partners Need to Know
The Northeast Regional Children's Advocacy Center created an orientation video to the medical exam for both current and incoming multidisciplinary team (MDT) members. The training highlights the importance of the medical exam, the importance of specialized providers, and why normal results are normal. NRCAC has also created a medical fact sheet to accompany the video training.