Chicago Children's Advocacy Center

Conclusion

Chicago Children's Advocacy Center meets the 20 Standards for Charity Accountability.

Purpose

Stated Purpose:
The mission of Chicago Children's Advocacy Center is to unite public, private, and community partners to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of abused children and survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

Year, State Incorporated:
1999, IL

Programs

Chicago Children's Advocacy Center (ChicagoCAC) is the only nonprofit organization in Chicago to lead the response to reports of child sexual abuse, responding to more than 2,000 reports annually in addition to reports of physical abuse, child trafficking, witness-to-violence cases, and risk-of-harm cases. Its core programs—Advocacy & Investigative Services; Clinical Services; and Education, Outreach, & Prevention—are structured to work cohesively and lower barriers so that children and their families can more readily participate in the justice system, begin the healing process, and prevent/respond to child abuse. ChicagoCAC is also uniquely equipped with a multidisciplinary team (MDT) of partnering organizations—including the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Chicago Police Departments Special Investigations Unit, Cook County States Attorney Office, and offsite, Lurie Childrens Hospital—to streamline the investigative process as well as to ensure that any child who visits ChicagoCAC will only be asked to tell their story once. All services provided by ChicagoCAC are free of charge and offered in both English and Spanish.

The Advocacy & Investigative Services program guides children and their families through the investigative process. Once an investigative report of abuse is received, the intake team collaborates with the MDT to develop a plan, keeping the family informed with every step taken. Each child is assigned a family advocate, who supports the child throughout the investigative process and provides resources and referrals to address family needs. A forensic interview is scheduled once the child has been referred, wherein a forensic interviewer asks developmentally appropriate questions to gain a more robust understanding of the childs situation. This forensic interview is observed by MDT staff from the adjacent room via a two-way mirror, allowing key investigators to gather the evidence and information needed to proceed with the investigation without requiring the child to repeat the story and relive their trauma. Throughout the process, the family has access to ChicagoCACs Child Life program, where clients and their siblings can participate in developmentally appropriate, evidence-based activities of their choosing facilitated by the Child Life team.  

In FY23 (7/1/22-6/30/23), the team responded to 2,046 investigative referrals and provided 1,794 forensic interviews for all allegation categories, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, risk-of-harm, and human trafficking.  

The Clinical Services program provides access to trauma-informed, evidence-based mental health services for children ages 3-17 and their nonoffending family members through ChicagoCACs in-house Family Hope Center (FHC) or one of 30 partnering mental health care providers in Chicago through the Providing Access to Hope and Healing (PATHH) Collaboration. FHC therapists provide trauma-informed, evidence-based care that is tailored to each childs unique needs, including interventions such as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Facilitating Attuned Interactions (FAN), and the Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC) framework. Due to the growing need for mental health services for children in the city, ChicagoCAC established the PATHH Collaboration, where clients on a centralized waitlist can be matched to a therapist either within the FHC or within one of the partnering mental health providers based on the childrens needs.

In FY23, the FHC provided mental health services to 388 children, and 293 children on the centralized waitlist were referred to PATHH partner agencies for mental health services. 

The Education, Outreach, & Prevention (EOP) program facilitates training sessions for professionals and community members, both virtually and in-person. Training sessions are designed to help participants learn more about recognizing, preventing, responding to, and reporting child sexual abuse. The EOP team also conducts in-house and public training sessions on related topics such as creating a trauma-informed environment, protecting children with disabilities, and more.  

In FY23, the Education, Outreach, & Prevention team provided 126 community training sessions attended by 2,675 individuals.

For the year ended June 30, 2023, Chicago Children's Advocacy Center's program expenses were:

Governance & Staff

Chief Executive
Char Rivette, Executive Director

Chair of the Board
Justin Hoss

Chair's Profession / Business Affiliation
KPMG US LLP

Board Size
21

Fundraising

Method(s) Used:
Direct mail appeals, Print advertisements (newspapers, magazines, etc.), Television, Grant proposals, Internet, Cause-related marketing (affinity credit cards, consumer product sales, etc.)

Tax Status

This organization is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is eligible to receive contributions deductible as charitable donations for federal income tax purposes.

Financial

The following information is based on Chicago Children's Advocacy Center's audited financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2023.

Source of Funds

Programs: 74% Fundraising: 12% Administrative: 14%