Centre County Childrens Advocacy Center

Programs: Children's advocacy center is an affiliate of mount nittany health system (health system) which includes an acute care hospital (mount nittany medical center), mount nittany medical center health services, inc. , centre county children's advocacy center, and the foundation for mount nittany medical center inc. At the children's advocacy center, our primary focus is on the well-being of the child. Our team works together to make each child feel safe and secure, and to ensure that each child is given the opportunity to share their account of reported abuse, neglect, or other crimes they may have been victim or witness to. During a visit to the children's advocacy center, children share their account as part of an investigation and begin their journey to healing. The children's advocacy center became fully operational on february 21, 2014. Services provided by cac include the following:- coordination of the county's multidisciplinary investigative team response- child and family friendly facilities- forensic interviewing services- victim advocacy support and referral- specialized forensic medical evaluation and treatment- referral to specialized mental health services- training, education and support for child abuse professionals- community education and outreachfor the period from july 1, 2016 to june 30, 2017, cac received 339 referrals for services. During this time period the cac conducted 283 forensic interviews - 253 of these interviews were covered through government reimbursements through crime victims compensation or county government.