About
Advocacy in Action
The Child Advocacy Center of Greater Rochester is committed to advocating for substantial increases in funding to support the work that we provide to the community, as well as several changes to laws that impede our ability to work effectively on behalf of children.
The Child Advocacy Center of Greater Rochester (CACGROC) is committed to advocating for substantial increases in funding to support the work that we provide to the community, as well as several changes to laws that impede our ability to work effectively on behalf of children.
Advocacy in Action
About
Child Advocacy Center New York State Legislation
Child Advocacy Centers (“CAC”) were established in 2006 by the New York State Legislature, specifically in Chapter 517 of Section 2:423-A of the NYS Social Services law. The legislation states: “The office of children and family services shall, to the greatest extent practicable, facilitate the establishment of child advocacy centers in every region of the state so that child victims of sexual abuse or serious physical abuse have reasonable access to such a center. Cases should be handled in an expert and timely manner, through a coordinated and cooperative effort that minimizes trauma to the children and their non-offending family members. Child advocacy centers shall be established by either a governmental entity or a private, nonprofit incorporated agency and shall meet the state office of children and family services program standards for child advocacy centers approval. They should strive to co-locate members of the local multi-disciplinary team at the child advocacy center.” When codifying Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) into law, the NYS legislature stated, "This proposal would establish in statute Child Advocacy Centers (CACs), directing the Office of Children and Family Services to facilitate, to the greatest extent practicable, the establishment of such centers in every region of the state. Child Advocacy Centers provide victims of child abuse and their families with a safe environment designed to minimize trauma while most effectively investigating the case in a coordinated manner. Many counties have established multidisciplinary teams designed to coordinate the response to child abuse. There are also several Child Advocacy Centers, run by the county or a not-for-profit agency, established around the state, that includes a multidisciplinary team. However, many areas of the state do not have a CAC to serve children who have been sexually or seriously physically abused. This legislation encourages the expansion of CACs around the state and provides a framework for CACs with a set of minimum requirements." In response to the Legislature’s requirement, CACGROC became the premier CAC in the Finger Lakes Region.
The Child Advocacy Center of Greater Rochester is advocating for the following legislative priorities:
Legislative Priorities
Increase base funding to Child Advocacy Centers across the State of New York
Although NYS recognizes 47 CAC’s, only six of these CAC’s (including CACGROC) provide comprehensive services including a space for medical evaluation, therapeutic intervention, support services for child abuse victims and their families, community education about child abuse, and other critical services to child victims and their families and the multidisciplinary investigation of abuse allegations.
Amend the New York State’s Elder Parole Bill, s423/a2035
The Elder Parole Bill allows individuals convicted of any crime who have reached the age of 55 and have served 15 years to be entitled to a parole hearing to be released from prison. A large amount of research exists on the recidivism rates of child sexual abuse offenders. The study of sex offenders released from state prisons in 1994, by Langan and colleagues (2003), included a large sample (N= 4,295) of child sexual abuse offenders. The researchers reported that 5.1 percent of the child sexual abuse offenders in the study were rearrested for a new sex crime within 3 years of their release, 14.1 percent were rearrested for a violent crime, and 39.4 percent were rearrested for a crime of any kind. child sexual abuse offenders with more than one prior arrest had an overall recidivism rate nearly double (44.3 percent compared to 23.3 percent) that of child sexual abuse offenders with only one prior arrest. As might be expected, child sexual abuse offenders were more likely than any other type of offender—sexual or nonsexual—to be arrested for a sex a crime against a child following release from prison. The State must amend S2423/A2035 and carve out an exception for child sex offenders.
Amend and Expand New York State’s Erin’s Law
The New York State Education Department should require school districts to partner with Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) to provide training for abuse prevention and mandated reporting. In August 2019, the State Legislature passed, and Governor Cuomo signed Erin's Law (Chapter 187 of the Laws of 2019), which requires public schools to provide instruction designed to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Although NYSED currently follows the mandate to provide abuse prevention resources, teachers are expected to cover those lessons in the classroom without formal training on abuse prevention or how to identify and work with a child who has experienced trauma or sexual abuse. It is imperative that NYS expands its requirements for Erin’s Law and allows CACs to provide this service to school districts. The State found the need to create Child Advocacy Centers to support children and families who have experienced abuse. We believe that by working directly with children in school, CACs can help districts prevent and identify victims of abuse more rapidly to stop other children from being victimized.
Support the Enactment of Child Abuse Reporting Act, CARE Act, s3158/a1581
The State of New York should amend Section 413 of the Social Services Law to add clergy members as mandated reporters of suspected child abuse and maltreatment. As currently justified: “New York's recently enacted Child Victims Act allows child victims of sexual abuse, who were previously time-barred by the statute of limitations, the opportunity to file lawsuits concerning their abuse up to age 55. While this is an important step in ensuring prior victims of child sexual abuse are made whole, it is also imperative that we close the loopholes in our law that permitted such abuse to exist undetected for decades. One way to do that is to ensure that clergy members be added to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse and maltreatment. Clergy members are not included in the otherwise extensive list of professionals required to report suspected cases of child abuse.” We support the current legislation that requires the following: Mandated reporting of abuse regardless of where the suspected abuse has occurred. Clergy being added as mandated reporters for suspected child abuse and neglect.
Expand New York State’s Social Services Legislation, s413
Specifically, to require an in-person mandated reporter training provided by the local Child Advocacy Center or an authorized provider to ensure comprehension as well as allow for discussion on practical application to eliminate bias in child abuse and child maltreatment reports. An annual renewal training whether online or in person should also be required. We support expanding legislation that requires: Enhanced, in-person mandated training that eliminated bias in child abuse and child maltreatment reports An annual renewal training online or in-person.
