PRESS RELEASE: April 14th, 2006

Commission on Children and Families’ (CCF)

Foothills Child Advocacy Center Opening

CHARLOTTESVILLE , VA —   

Charlottesville and Albemarle are collaborating to better respond to child abuse victims.

The new Foothills Child Advocacy Center is opening to provide a multidisciplinary approach to child abuse cases.  Until now, child victims of sexual abuse and severe physical abuse have had to deal with a system that was not set up to accommodate their special needs.  In fact, some of the procedures currently in place can actually increase traumatization of child victims.  

Problems with the old system include: victims being interviewed in adult interrogation settings, victims having to routinely visit as many as thirteen agencies involved in their reporting, investigation, prosecution, and treatment, repeated interviews that can increase trauma to the victim, and not enough coordination between services.

The new Child Advocacy Center benefits children through a multidisciplinary approach.  This means that a team of professionals work together to decrease the number of interviews and trips the child needs to make for different agencies, and therefore has the effect of reducing retraumatization to the child.  The multidisciplinary team has members associated with the Charlottesville and Albemarle Police Departments, Departments of  Social Services, Commonwealth Attorney’s Offices, Victim Witness Offices, along with Region Ten Community Services Board, Children, Youth & Family Services Inc., Piedmont CASA, and the Foothills Child Advocacy Center .  Recently, five members of the Multidisciplinary Team have been trained as forensic interviewers at the National Children’s Advocacy Center in Huntsville , AL .

"The opening of the Foothills Children's Advocacy Center in Charlottesville is exciting for the community because there will be increased services for child victims of abuse and neglect, and prosecutions of these crimes will be enhanced, thus helping to make the community safer for its youngest citizens."

 -- Kay Kovacs, Children's Advocacy Centers of Virginia State Chapter Coordinator.

The establishment of a Child Advocacy Center is a result of research and planning by the Charlottesville/Albemarle Commission on Children and Family’s Family Violence Work Group, created in 2002 to address the negative impact of family violence on local children, as well as grants from the National Children’s Alliance and the Virginia Department of Health and Human Services.   

The Foothills Child Advocacy Center is currently a pilot project and being housed by the Charlottesville/Albemarle Commission on Children and Families.

If you have any questions please contact Megan Oliviero:

Phone: (434) 872-4566 Email: moliviero@albemarle.org

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