This is the 2019 Annual Report on the activities of the National Children's Alliance (NCA), which is a national network of Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs) with a common mission to protect all children and prevent child abuse.
The report notes that the need for CAC nationwide collaboration peaked in early 2020 when the global pandemic emerged. NCA launched a new online community platform in 2019, which facilitated CAC staff to communicate with one another in asking and answering questions, discussing revised policies under public health directives, and posting resources. In addition, NCA has sponsored webinars on pandemic response, triaging cases, telemental health, tele-forensic interviews, and other topics related to services to children in need in the context of the pandemic. This 2019 Annual Report indicates that as of the end of 2019 there were 900 CACs serving just over 370,000 children. In 2019, approximately 85 percent of all children within the United States had access to CAC service. This included 957,900 more children with access to CAC services than the previous year. In 2019, 14 CACs achieved accreditation for the first time, which means they are meeting the field's highest standards of practice. In 2019, CACs referred to or provided mental health services for 210,113 children. A total of 2,294,935 people received child abuse prevention education at CACs, and 97 percent of caregivers served agree that CACs have provided them with resources that help them support their children. Virtually all members of the NCA multidisciplinary team (MDT) report that CACs have benefitted from the team's collaborative approach in providing guidance and resources. A survey of caregivers who have received CAC services in 2019 indicated that 97 percent would refer other caregivers to the kinds of CAC services they received. NCA 2019 financial income and expenditures are presented in this report.