EPISODE SUMMARY When examining the multidisciplinary team response to child abuse in communities, there are two principles that I believe to must be considered. The first is that MDT’s are sophisticated and complex systems that are tasked with providing a coordinated and comprehensive response to child abuse. The second is that no single discipline on an MDT can adequately meet the needs of a victim of child abuse. One would think that such a system tasked with such an important mandate would have a clear leadership structure to ensure that the best possible services are being provided. However, that is not always the case. In this episode, I speak with Chris Newlin, the Executive Director of the National Children’s Advocacy Center who shares with us a conceptual model of multilevel shared leadership for MDTs that provides a framework and pathway to more robust and sustainable MDT response to child abuse in your community.   

GUEST:

Chris Newlin, MS LPC, is the Executive Director of the National Children’s Advocacy Center where he is responsible for providing leadership and management of the NCAC and participating in national and international training and leadership activities regarding the protection of children. The NCAC was the first Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) in the world and provides child abuse prevention and intervention services in Huntsville/Madison County; and also houses the NCAC Training Center, the Southern Regional Children’s Advocacy Center, the NCAC Virtual Training Center, and the Child Abuse Library Online (CALiO™). The NCAC is a past multi-year winner of the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Workplace Ethics; 2012 Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce Non-Profit of the Year; 2016 Federal Bureau of Investigation Director’s Community Leadership Award recipient; (multi-year finalist), winner in 2016 and 2019 of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce Best Places to Work; and a Private Sector Member of the Virtual Global Taskforce.

Chris has more than 22 years of experience working in CACs as a Forensic Interviewer, Victim Advocate, Therapist, Clinical Director, and Executive Director. Chris has provided diverse training related to the Children’s Advocacy Center Model, the multidisciplinary response to child abuse, the international development of Children’s Advocacy Centers, forensic interviewing, best practices in child abuse intervention and response, and additional child maltreatment and exploitation topics in more than 30 countries throughout the world. He has worked in both urban and rural Children’s Advocacy Centers. Chris received his Master’s in School Psychology from the University of Central Arkansas, is a Licensed Professional Counselor, and has completed coursework at the Harvard University Business School Executive Education Program.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

Chris Newlin, MS LPC full bio

National Children’s Advocacy Center

Northeast Regional Children’s Advocacy Center

Southern Regional Children’s Advocacy Center

Midwest Regional Children’s Advocacy Center

Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center

Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org.

Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 2019-CI-FX-K005 and CFDA #16.758 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.

Check out this episode!

EPISODE SUMMARY We all see the word hope in the vision statements, mission statements, and even within the name of some of our organizations. But what do we mean when we are using this word? My guest for this episode will help put hope in perspective. As a “Hope Scientist,” Dr. Ashley Cross joins the podcast to speak to us about The Science of Hope. As her website states: “Hope is more than a feeling; it is a science and a healing agent. Hope can heal the brain, restore the soul and give life meaning. Since hope a science, this means it can be taught, learned and restored. Hope is the single best predictor of an individual’s ability to thrive and research points to hope as being consistently linked to positive outcomes and well-being. If you are interested in having your organization, team, or life become more hope centered, take the time to listen to our conversation.

GUEST:

Dr. Ashley is a leader with a big heart and a lot of passion. She established the first girls’ home in Tulsa, OK and raised awareness in the city about the issues concerning girls in foster care and youth aging out. Through civic engagement, the local church, a dedicated community and a lot of faith and hope, Dr. Ashley raised over 1 million dollars in funds and purchased properties to house girls aging out of foster care or experiencing homelessness in Oklahoma. Dr. Cross has dedicated her life to working in the community to build and sustain hope in vulnerable children, families, and people passionate about improving their communities and the lives around them. She does this by educating, coaching, and empowering individuals through powerful training, individual and organizational resources and direction that helps people build a culture of hope everywhere that they go.

She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Hub585, which oversees the Monroe County CarePortal, connecting children in foster care with physical and relational resources. She also sits on the board of Bivona Child Advocacy Center.

Dr. Ashley holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s in nonprofit management and a doctorate in Educational Leadership, all from Oral Roberts University. Dr. Ashley is also a Full Focus Planner Certified Pro.

Dr. Ashley also serves as a Pastor, alongside her husband Melvin Cross Jr, at Glory House International. She and Melvin have three amazing daughters: Jordan, Harper and Madison.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

Dr. Ashley Cross

The Hub585

University of Oklahoma Hope Research Center 

Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org.

Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 2019-CI-FX-K005 and CFDA #16.758 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.

Check out this episode!

EPISODE SUMMARY

Every Child Advocacy Center wants to create a space that is safe and inclusive for all children and families that walk through the door. At times, the process of creating that space and the conversations that need to be had to ensure such a space can be difficult and uncomfortable. In this episode, I speak with Gale Britton, the Board of Trustees President for Wynona’s House, the CAC for Essex County, NJ. We intended to speak specifically about creating diversity within the entire organization. Gale speaks about the importance of clarifying the mission and vision of the organization, understanding the needs of the organization, and understanding the community you are serving. She also speaks about the importance of engaging the right people and what CAC leaders should consider when asking people to join the organization.

GUEST:

Gale Britton is the President of the Board of Trustees for Wynona’s House, the Child Advocacy Center for Essex County, NJ. She is also the managing partner of a consulting practice where she focuses on Diversity and Inclusion strategy, education, recruitment, and leadership development. Gale has over 30 years of experience in the corporate world, and has been serving on nonprofit boards for over 15 years.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

Gale Britton’s full bio

Wynona’s House

National Children’s Alliance DEI priorities

Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org.

Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 2019-CI-FX-K005 and CFDA #16.758 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.

Check out this episode!

EPISODE SUMMARY

Access to medical care has been an ongoing challenge for many CACs. Whether it be a shortage of qualified practitioners, funding issues, transportation issues, or something else, many CAC leaders have been trying to answer the question of “how can we provide the children and families we serve with the appropriate medical services that will help them heal from the trauma they have faced?” While tele-medicine has been explored in the past, it has risen to the surface due to the circumstances all CACs were faced with during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Andrea Asnes and Paula Schaeffer from the South Central Child advocacy Center in New Haven, CT. Challenged by the circumstances of the pandemic to utilize tele-medicine, Dr. Asnes and Paula had an epiphany about the expanded role tele-medicine can play in their medical program during and after the pandemic. During the episode, they share their experiences, how CACs can further explore the benefits of tele-medicine, and how to incorporate it into your medical program.

GUEST:

Dr. Andrea Asnes, MD, MSW is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and board certified child abuse pediatrician who directs the Yale Programs for Safety, Advocacy and Healing. Dr. Asnes also is the Graduate Medical Education Director of Resident and Fellow Wellbeing for Yale-New Haven Hospital. Full bio: https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/andrea_asnes/

Paula Schaeffer, MA is the Program Manager at the Yale Child Sexual Abuse Clinic located at the Yale-New Haven Hospital Family Advocacy Center. The Clinic provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary assessments of children who may have been sexually abused.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

South Central Child Advocacy Center

Yale Child Sexual Abuse Clinic

Northeast Regional Children’s Advocacy Center

National Children’s Alliance

Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org.

Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 2019-CI-FX-K005 and CFDA #16.758 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.

Check out this episode!

EPISODE SUMMARY

Have you heard about the role of a Child Life Specialist?  Many of us are under the misconception that Child Life Specialists only work in hospital settings and are tasked with playing with children as they await a procedure or treatment.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In both healthcare and community settings, Certified Child Life Specialists help infants, children, youth and families cope with the stress and uncertainty of acute and chronic illness, injury, trauma, disability, loss and bereavement. They provide evidence-based, developmentally, and psychologically appropriate interventions including therapeutic play, preparation for procedures, and education to reduce fear, anxiety, and pain. There are several misconceptions about the Child Life Profession (www.childlife.org).  In several CAC’s across the United States, Child Life Specialists are playing an important role in the victim advocacy services provided to children and families.

In this episode, I had the opportunity to learn about the Child Life profession and how it can be incorporated into the CAC world from Annie Drehkoff of the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center.  Annie has a wealth of experience working with children and families and shows us how adding Child Life Specialists to CAC can have great value to the children and families being served as well as the entire CAC team.

GUEST:

Annie Drehkoff, MS, CCLS is the Child Life Manager at Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center. She has over 10 years of experience working with children and families in a variety of settings, which include early childhood education and child life services at pediatric hospitals and outpatient facilities. At Chicago CAC, she oversees the Child Life Department, which promotes effective coping among children and families impacted by sexual abuse through play, preparation, and other support interventions. She received her MS in Child Development, with the Child Life specialization, from Erikson Institute in 2012 and is a Certified Child Life Specialist.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

Association of Child Life Professionals

“Child Life in Action in a Child Advocacy Center with Annie Drehkoff, MS, CCLS.”

Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center

Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org.

Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 2019-CI-FX-K005 and CFDA #16.758 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.

Check out this episode!

Episode summary

Children with disabilities may be a greater risk for maltreatment than children without disabilities. For many professionals in the child advocacy field, these cases can be difficulty because of a lack of understanding, knowledge, and basic skills to effectively work with a child with a disability.  In this episode, we start your journey of building basic skills needed to effectively work with the children with disabilities who come through your CAC and with their families.

My guest is Staci Whitney, the Director of Forensic Interviewing Training for the Modell Consulting Group, LLC.  Staci is a forensic interviewer, trainer, and has extensive training and experience interviewing children and individuals with disabilities who are victims of crime. During our conversation, Staci talks about individuals can overcome the challenges they face when working on cases involving individuals with disabilities as well as what CACs and teams can do to improve their response when cases present themselves.

Recommended resources

• Staci Whitney bio: https://www.modellconsultinggroup.com/about-us
• Modell Consulting Group: https://www.modellconsultinggroup.com/
• Northeast Regional CAC:  www.nrcac.org

Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org.

Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 2019-CI-FX-K005 and CFDA #16.758 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.

Check out this episode!

Episode summary

Cases of children ages 12 and younger with problematic sexual behavior (PSB) can present a myriad of challenges for multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) and Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs). After all, MDTs and CACs were historically designed to address maltreatment of children committed by adults, not by other children. When presented with child-initiated harm cases, child-serving agencies are often inadequately equipped to provide the integrated and comprehensive response that is required in these situations. (Sites, Jerri & Widefield, Jimmy. Children with Problematic Sexual Behavior: Recommendations for the Multidisciplinary Team and Children’s Advocacy Center Response (2020).

In this episode, I speak with the authors of the above referenced white paper, Jerri Sites and Jimmy Widdifield.  Both have extensive experience working with CACs and MDTs and have conducted extensive research on the topic of PSB.  During our conversation, Jerri and Jimmy share their insights and experience along with providing valuable tools for teams who are looking to enhance their response to PSB cases in their community.

Recommended resources

• Jerri Sites at Child Protection Concepts is an independent consultant with 28 years of experience working in the field of child abuse investigations within the CAC movement.
• Jimmy Widdifield is the Freestanding Multidisciplinary Teams (FSMDT) Programs Manager at the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth in Oklahoma City, OK
• White Paper: https://calio.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Children-with-Problematic-Sexual-Behavior-Recommendations-for-the-Multidisciplinary-Team-and-Childrens-Advocacy-Center-Response.pdf
• National Children’s Alliance
• National Center on the Sexual Behavior of Youth
• National Children’s Advocacy Center
• Southern Regional Children’s Advocacy Center
• Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center
• Midwest Regional Children’s Advocacy Center
• Northeast Regional Children’s Advocacy Center

Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org.

Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 2019-CI-FX-K005 and CFDA #16.758 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.

Check out this episode!

Episode summary

In the final episode of the 4-part series on Skill Development for Forensic Interviewers, Tony speaks with Andra Chamberlin and Kim Madden from the National Children’s Advocacy Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  Both Andra and Kim are trainers and forensic interview specialists with a wealth of experience in the child abuse field.  During the conversation, Kim and Andra share their thoughts on the skills needed to be an effective forensic interviewer and how CAC’s and MDT’s can develop a process to where interviews take the foundational knowledge gained during their initial training and build more formative knowledge around the skills needed to be effective.

Guest bio:

Andra Chamberlin:  https://www.nationalcac.org/andra-k-chamberlin/

Kim Madden:  https://www.nationalcac.org/kim-madden/

Topics

Forensic Interviewing

Peer Review for Forensic Interviewers

Coaching and Mentoring

Forensic Interviewing Skill Development

Recommended resources

National Children’s Advocacy Center Training Center:  www.nationalcac.org

NCAC Calio Library: www.calio.org

Regional Children’s Advocacy Center: 

Northeaast:  www.nrcac.org

Midwest:  www.mrcac.org

Southern:  www.srcac.org

Western:  www.westernregionalcac.org

Check out this episode!

Elevating Your FI Program

Still searching for that elusive perfect forensic interview? In this second episode of our two-part conversation with Michele Thames and Christine Rouse, forensic interviewers from Virginia, we discuss the importance of leadership to the success of a forensic interviewing program.

Episode Summary

When child abuse occurs, cases may be investigated using a Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) and a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT). Forensic Interviewers are often employed at CACs and tasked with gathering reliable information from children. An interviewer is required to have knowledge in child development, memory formation, cultural influences, state and federal laws, and skills in questioning children. During this part of our series on forensic interviewing skill development, Michele Thames and Christina Rouse share their insights on the importance of leadership, program support, and proper training programs to the enhancement of any forensic interviewing program.

Guest Bios

Michele Thames is the Executive Director of SafeSpot Children’s Advocacy Center in Fairfax, VA/ She holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Cambridge College. She was previously the Supervisor of the Forensic Interview Program at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters Child Abuse Program in Norfolk, VA. Michele is a trained Forensic Interviewer that has conducted over 3,000 foensic interviews in a multidisciplinary team setting for local, state, federal, and military agencies. She is a board member of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Virginia and faculty for ChildFirst Virginia.

Christina Rouse, MSW, is the CAC Program Director/Lead Forensic Interviewer at Children’s Trust in Roanoke, VA. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech, where she received a degree in Psychology, as well as a Masters Degree in Social Work from Radford University. Christina has been with her CAC for 13 years and has interviewed over 2,000 children, and has testified as an expert witness in forensic interviewing in Virginia. Children’s Trust CAC program serves ten MDTs that cover fourteen jurisdictions, which Christina has helped to coordinate and facilitate to ensure that best practice standards are being met. She has been a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) since 2009, a ChildFirst faculty member since 2012, and served on the board of Virginia’s State Chapter of CACs during her career.

Recommended Resources

SafeSpot CAC – www.safespotfairfax.org

Children’s Trust – www.roact.org

NCAC CALiO Library – https://calio.org/

Regional Children’s Advocacy Centers

• Northeast – www.nrcac.org
• Midwest – www.mrcac.org
• Southern – www.srcac.org
• Western – www.westernregionalcac.org

TEND Academy – https://www.tendacademy.ca/

National Children’s Alliance – https://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/

Have an idea for a future Team Talk guest or topic? We want to hear from you! Email your suggestions to Tony DeVincenzo at tony@nrcac.org.

Disclaimer: This project was sponsored by NRCAC from Grant Award Number 2019-CI-FX-K005 and CFDA #16.758 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, OJJDP or NRCAC.

Check out this episode!

In Search of the Perfect Interview

Is your team searching for the perfect forensic interview? Although a “perfect” outcome might not be possible, the journey is important. In this episode, I speak with two forensic interviewers from the Commonwealth of Virginia about that journey. We discuss some of the challenges that might get in the way and what interviewers and team members can do to overcome the obstacles that impact the journey toward perfection.

Episode Summary

In the last 5 years, over 1 million children have received forensic interview services at Child Advocacy Centers across the United States. In this second episode of a 4-part series, I speak with Michele Thames and Christina Rouse about what forensic interviews and multidisciplinary teams can do to remove some of the hurdles that get in the way of forensic interviewing programs operating at their best. We discuss tools and resources that forensic interviewers can utilize to enhance their skills as well as what team members can do to support the interviewers on their team. We begin to talk about what the team can do on a systems level, to help ensure that children and families are having the best possible experience they can when coming to the CAC for a forensic interview, but you will have to tune in to part 3 of our series to hear more on that topic!

Guest Bio

Michele Thames is the Executive Director of SafeSpot Children’s Advocacy Center in Fairfax, VA. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Cambridge College. She was previously the Supervisor of the Forensic Interview Program at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters Child Abuse Program in Norfolk, Virginia. Michele is a trained Forensic Interviewer that has conducted over 3,000 forensic interviews in a multidisciplinary team setting for local, state, federal and military agencies. She is a board member of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Virginia and faculty for ChildFirst Virginia.

Christina Rouse, MSW, is the CAC Program Director/ Lead Forensic Interviewer at Children’s Trust in Roanoke, VA. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech where she received a degree in Psychology, and then a Masters in Social Work from Radford University. Christina has been at her CAC for 13 years and has interviewed over 2000 children and has testified as an expert witness in forensic interviewing in Virginia. Children’s Trust CAC program serves ten MDT’s that cover fourteen jurisdictions and Christina has helped coordinate and facilitate these teams to ensure that best practices are being met. She has been a member of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) since 2009, ChildFirst faculty since 2012 and served on the Virginia state chapter board for CAC’s during her career.

Recommended resources

SafeSpot CAC: www.safespotfairfax.org

Children’s Trust: www.roact.org

NCAC Calio Library: https://calio.org/

Regional websites:

www.nrcac.org

www.srcac.org

www.mrcar.org

www.westernregionalcac.org

Tend Academy: https://www.tendacademy.ca/

National Children’s Alliance: https://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/

Check out this episode!