Barnstable, December 18th, 2024 – Today, Children’s Cove: the Cape and Islands Child Advocacy Center, announced to the Barnstable County Commissioners Office that they been awarded re-accreditation by the National Children’s Alliance following an extensive application and site review process. As the accrediting agency for Children’s Advocacy Centers (CAC) across the country, the National Children’s Alliance awards various levels of accreditation and membership to centers responding to allegations of child abuse in ways that are effective and efficient, and which put the needs of child victims of abuse first.
Accreditation is the highest level of membership with the National Children’s Alliance and denotes an excellence in service provision. This is the fourth consecutive period of national accreditation received by Children’s Cove. In addition, The National Children’s Alliance offers three additional optional standards which exceed the national mandate, of which Children’s Cove was recognized for meeting two: Prevention of Sexual Abuse as well as the Standard for Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.
“As an organization of individuals dedicated to responding to child abuse, we recognize the importance of accreditation from National Children’s Alliance and supporting the multidisciplinary team approach. Accreditation not only validates our organization’s proven effective approach to responding to allegations of child abuse, but also provides consistency across the child advocacy center movement as a whole,” said Stacy Gallagher, Director of Children’s Cove, a department of Barnstable County, has been the Cape and Island’s Child Advocacy Center since 1997. Children’s Cove provides coordinated and comprehensive multidisciplinary services to child victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, witness domestic violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking. In addition to direct services to child victims of crimes and their non-offending families, Children’s Cove provides prevention and awareness education and training to the community.
The National Children’s Alliance Awards Accredited Membership is based on a child advocacy center’s compliance with 10 evidence and research-based national standards of accreditation to ensure effective, efficient and consistent delivery of services to child abuse victims. According to these standards, Accredited Members must utilize a functioning and effective multidisciplinary team approach to work collaboratively in child abuse investigation, prosecution, and treatment. National Children’s Alliance also considers standards regarding a center’s cultural competency and diversity, forensic interviews, victim support and advocacy, medical evaluation, therapeutic intervention, and child focused setting.
Children’s Cove is one of 12 Child Advocacy Centers in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with more than 950 nationwide. To learn more about Children’s Cove, visit www.childrenscove.org
