OKLAHOMA - Children’s Advocacy Centers of Oklahoma (CACO) invites Oklahoma citizens and organizations to join them in advocating for the prevention of child abuse.
Thousands of Oklahoma children suffer abuse and neglect each year. According to the Oklahoma State Department of Human Services, during the calendar year 2023, there were 13,773 confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect across the state. During that same time period, Oklahoma’s twenty accredited Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) and three developing CACs served approximately 8,481 children who were directly involved in child abuse investigations as alleged victims of crimes. Additionally, our CACs provided vital child abuse prevention education to 45,068 children across the state.
Children’s Advocacy Centers serve children involved in the most severe types of child abuse investigations. They do so by providing trauma-informed wrap-around services following a report of child maltreatment. CACs provide safety, hope, and healing.
“It is very important to remember that these numbers represent children. The traumatic experiences children endure significantly contribute to adult health and social problems, from obesity and drug addiction to cancer rates and domestic violence," said Carrie Little, Executive Director of CACO.
Over the past five years, CACs have steadily increased the number of services to both children and adults. And while in 2023 our Oklahoma state legislators thankfully responded to the critical need for increased resources to aid in service provision by doubling the state funding that fully accredited CACs receive, at the federal level funding to support direct services to child victims of crime – known as Victims of Crime Act Funding (VOCA) – is uncertain.
The Victims of Crime Act, and through it the Crime Victims Fund (CVF), has assisted the recovery of millions of violent crime, sexual assault and domestic abuse victims. Its role in the support of victims’ recovery cannot be overstated.
For years, children and their families have turned to CACs and other victim service agencies. These critical lifeline services have been made possible for so many people who need them by funding from VOCA. Instead of leaving victims to shoulder the overwhelming burden of seeking justice on their own, our victim services professionals step in to provide support.
Due to the nature of VOCA and its fickle funding sources like fines, settlements from federal criminal prosecutions and forfeited bonds, the funding source has been drying up for years. With each year that the fund shrinks, our CACs must account for the change while at the same time responding to increased need from communities. That uncertainty prevents CACs from doing the type of strategic long-term planning that would allow us to serve additional child victims of crime in more meaningful ways.
This year, despite a targeted effort by bill advocates across the full nonprofit spectrum, the CVF has seen a $600 million slash to its bottom line. Across the board, this will look like less financial support for victims of violent crimes, depleted legal resources in the pursuit of justice and fewer victims’ rights advocates.
In 2023, Oklahoma CACs received over $2 million in VOCA funding to support direct services critical to the health and healing of children. In the face of these upcoming devastating cuts to VOCA, CACs across Oklahoma are forced to make changes which could include laying off essential service providers. CACs are monitored closely by our state legislators via accreditation processes. If CACs have to lay off employees providing essential services to children, this places in jeopardy CACs losing accreditation status which is directly tied to state funding. Thus, cuts to VOCA disrupt the entire funding system which CACs heavily rely upon. The result could mean that CACs across our great state will shut down. To end the programs for these young crime victims would be to abandon them. For many of the people we serve, this could be the start of a new obstacle to overcome. We owe crime victims more than that – especially child victims of crime.
We look to Congress and our state legislators to find a solution to help us sustain that support to the people that need it most this year and beyond. We need the support of our local communities to understand these massive funding issues and to reach out to their state and federal legislators to demand change and support for children.
Support CACO or a CAC near you by advocating on our behalf and donating your time or your resources. Find a Directory of Children’s Advocacy Centers throughout Oklahoma today at www.cacok.com or call 918-805-0010.
It is CACO’s mission to unite and support child abuse professionals to protect Oklahoma’s children.
CACO is a membership organization.
CACO is the accredited Oklahoma Chapter of the National Children’s Alliance.
