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Child Advocacy Center
The Child Advocacy Center (CAC) serving Upshur and Lewis Counties was once its own, individual 501(c)3 non-profit organization. In the early 2000’s, Mountain CAP of WV, Inc. adopted the CAC – henceforth, the Mountain CAP Child Advocacy Center. Since that time, there has been a great increase in the CAC's capacity to serve our community. In 2008 for example, only 14 children were referred to our CAC for Forensic Interviews. Currently, we average 46 Forensic Interviews per year.​ Referrals for Forensic Interviews are made by Child Protective Services (CPS), Law Enforcement agencies, and the Offices of the Prosecuting Attorneys in Upshur and Lewis Counties.
The Mountain CAP CAC became Nationally Accredited through the National Children’s Alliance in June of 2013. Since that time, we have been providing the following services regardless of ability to pay:
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Forensic interviewing
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Medical forensic evaluations
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Victim and non-offending caregiver support and advocacy
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Case management and coordination
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Case tracking
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Multidisciplinary Investigative Team representation
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West Virginia Crime Victim Fund application assistance
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Prevention programs
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Darkness to Light’s Stewards of Children training (for adults)
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Assistance with 2nd Step: Child Protection Unit and other school-based prevention programs (children)
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Community outreach and awareness
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Partners in Prevention Team participation
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Trauma-Focused Therapy
The purpose of the Child Advocacy Center is to provide a child-friendly environment which is conducive to collaboration among child protection, criminal justice, and child treatment professionals. Our mission is to provide justice and healing to child victims of abuse. The CAC does not provide parenting evaluations, nor do we offer our services for the purposes of providing recommendations for family court matters.
