Re: Research on CAC model

["Caren Kaplan" <ckaplan@xxxxxxxx>]

Paula:

The Crimes against Children Research Center (CCRC) of the University of New Hampshire has begun a, multi-site evaluation to study how CACs work and in what ways they are effective.  The study will examine the overall effect of CACs as well as the effects of different program components and types of CACs.  It will assess the impact of CACs on children, families, agencies, the court system and communities.

Sites consist of a Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) community with a matched comparison non-CAC community.  Comparison communities are comparable to the CC community in every way except that they lack the key elements of a CAC that are thought to change the nature and outcomes of child abuse investigations.  The participating CACs across the country are:

n      Dallas Children's Advocacy Center, Dallas, TX
n      The Family Intervention Center, Children's Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA
n      The Low Country Children's Center, Charleston, SC
n      The National Children's Advocacy Center, Huntsville, AL

With support from the College of Criminal Justice of Sam Houston State University, the Collins County Children's Advocacy Center in Plano, Texas is also participating.

The Evaluability Assessment.  An evaluability assessment (EA) examines the readiness of an organization, system or community for an evaluation.  With regard to the CAC evaluation, EA will be used to assess whether human services and law enforcement agencies in the sites can provide sufficient data of adequate quality to insure a conceptually sound, rigorous, statistically powerful evaluation.

 
During the Evaluability Assessment CCRC completed the following, 

n      The development of a site specific Logic Model which represents a capsule, a graphical way to depict the theory underlying CACs.  This can help guide evaluation research design, and data analysis.  Logic Models will vary across sites, depending on the nature of the site;

 n      A draft listing of all Case Data variables we are seeking from client information systems, which we call the Data Dictionary. CACs and investigating agencies already collect in their practice much of the data needed by our study in their client information systems (CIS) or paper files.  This information includes:

 
§         Family demographic and background characteristics
§         Information on the nature of the alleged abuse
§         Disclosure and investigation characteristics
§         Characteristics of the CAC and other agency investigations
§         Information on the criminal justice and child protective response; and
§         Information on the services provided to the families


n      A paper-and-pencil survey conducted by CCRC about the importance of different outcomes in each site area has been conducted which we have named the Outcome Survey.  This allows us to know in more detail what outcomes each community values from its CAC.  A sample size of N=69 has been evaluated and Outcome Survey Results are available on-line.

 
Currently, CCRC will begin a Prospective Evaluation of the sites shortly.  In order to keep the CAC community and other interested individuals current on the progress of the National Evaluation, we will periodically update this site with information about the evaluation and links to documents that we think might be helpful in understanding the project.

Additionally, we have provided a link to an annotated bibliography of references that we have compiled related to issues of interest to CAC stakeholders.  This list represents, in our minds, the research and reviews that are most informative on such topics as child abuse investigations, the role and response of criminal justice in child maltreatment, medical evaluations of child abuse, effects of prosecution on child victims, children's testimony, and multidisciplinary teams.  We hope that you find this useful.

 
For more information, contact:

Theodore Cross 
Crimes Against Children Research Center
126 Horton Social Science Center
Durham, NH 03824
Ph: (603) 862-0576
E-mail: ted.cross@unh.edu 

Hope this is helpful.


>>> PAULAW@orhs.org 03/21/02 03:48PM >>>
Hello everyone:
I am conducting an evaluation of the Orange County
Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) in Central Florida and am
interested in any research concerning outcomes and the
effectiveness of the CAC model. Relatedly, I am interested
in studies concerning the multidisciplinary team process and
decision making in child abuse cases. Please let me know of
any leads you have. Thanks!

Paula Wolfteich, Ph.D.
Program Evaluation Specialist
Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families