Children’s Advocacy Centers of Louisiana
The mission of the CACLA Association, based solely on the best interests of children, is to support the development, growth, communication between, and continuation of quality children’s advocacy centers in the state of Louisiana. CACLA members ensure that every abused child referred to their programs has a comfortable, child-friendly environment for interviews and other services, reducing the trauma to child victims of abuse.
CACLA supports National Children’s Alliance strong belief that the combined professional wisdom and skill of the multidisciplinary team approach results in a more complete understanding of case issues and the most effective child- and family-focused system response possible.
CACLA offers assistance to CACs in Louisiana by:
- Providing training and technical assistance for local CAC staff and stakeholders
- Coordinating networking opportunities and information sharing among CAC’s and with stakeholders
- Advocating for policy, collaborations, and best practices which support systematic reform and change for child abuse
How CAC works
A children’s advocacy center is a child-focused, facility-based program in which representatives from many disciplines, including law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental health, medical and victim advocacy, and child advocacy, work together to conduct interviews and make team decisions about investigation, treatment, management and prosecution of child abuse cases. CAC’s are modeled on the simple but powerful concept of coordination between community agencies and professionals involved in the intervention system.
To learn more how CAC’s work visit the National Children’s Alliance (NCA). NCA is the national organization that provides coordination, standards by which CAC’s adhere to, and information and resource sharing for CAC’s across the country, including the 15 CAC’s here in Louisiana.
Find a local advocacy center
To find the children’s advocacy center nearest you, go to find a center page.
Report child abuse
To report child abuse, visit the DSS website for more information including a telephone number where you can talk to someone with the Office of Community Services.
