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Hello.Friends and colleagues.my name is Michael Johnson or Detective Mike.

I'm a 28 year veteran of law enforcement here in the United States.

24 of those years I spent investigating crimes against children

primarily exploitation and sexual abuse

I'm currently retired and I consult and trained internationally

on all areas of investigation of child abuse exploitation, multidisciplinary teams

and Barnardo's, as are children's advocacy centers

I'm a founder of one of the first children's advocacy centers, or Barnardo's, in the United States

It receive all of our multidisciplinary teams

As importantly, I help create our multidisciplinary teams, pro investigative protocols and best practices

all with the primary focus of being victims sensitive and meeting the needs of not only the victim

but non offending caregivers And that is from investigation intervention all the way through the court process

And if it didn't go into court to ensure that the outcomes were consistent

for the best interests of the child and the family.

Always keeping in mind the protection efforts that are involved in that process

I'm a founding partner of the Seven Shores Consulting Group and the founder of the website detective Mike

Training and Consulting Services.I look forward to speaking with you on this topic.

Today.We're going to talk we're going to talk about children's advocacy centers, or internationally known as Barnardo's

Specifically, we're going to address how does a children's advocacy center or Barnardo's facility work

and what have we learned from implementing these models

over the last couple of decades? First let's start out with a fact

Our interventions or our criminal and family court justice systems were not created or designed

with unique needs of children, preteens, teens and young adults in mind

Nor are numerous disciplines law enforcement, social services

advocacy therapy, medical, forensic, medical professionals

and all of the other disciplines that are involved in this process

I remember clearly the old way

I was around long enough to investigate cases the old way

We've evolved and made a lot of differences

from singular investigations interventions and support to more of a multidisciplinary support

Interviews conducted by ourselves for our own needs in governmental facilities to interviews now

and our Barnardo's and children's advocacy centers and child and family friendly locations

Prior, there were no coordination of services I remember distinctly trying to coordinate services myself

Now we have a team of individuals to coordinate those services

and more importantly make sure those services are provided

An area that I'm not very proud of is back on our old criminal investigations

We would investigate our case and file it with the prosecutor

or the criminal justice system and effectively drop the case until we get ready to go to trial

Now there's a seamless flow of support by advocates and therapists and professionals

through our Children's Advocacy Center and our Multidisciplinary team

So we've learned a lot

Well, let's continue this discussion

I will I have to share with you my experience of investigating these cases singularly and in our first Children’s Advocacy Center

Our first facility was designed primarily for all of us as disciplines

to respond to that location we had in mind keeping it victim centered

because the child would have to respond to one place for the forensic interview

And all of us disciplines would respond there

Our fourth facility of the facilities we have now has all of the disciplines housed within one facility

It includes programs, multiple forensic interview rooms, not just for young children

but for preteens, teens and young adults, obviously decorated and pointed different ways

Offices for all of the various investigators to include social services

or what we call a rainbow room or a room for needed supplies

from baby formula to clothing to underwear to various other items

that our social workers have identified that are needed when they go out on some type of emergency response

as well as Crown Prosecution Service, forensic medical officers

I think I already mentioned therapeutic offices and offices for forensic staff

So it truly is a one stop shop, if you will

When children and families come in, all they see is the child and family friendly part of the facility

They don't see the back side of the facility where all of our offices are

So some of those services and programs we know how we can anticipate

or think about in the early stages or obviously the forensic interview

And that individual needs to be trained in one of the research based models

that meets the needs of the disciplines who need that information about the victimization of the child victim

Forensic interview space and ability to record a case meeting in staffing rooms training rooms

We need to ensure that all of the disciplines that are responding

and this should be the responsibility of the Barnardo's are trained in their area

their discipline area, because that's one of the areas that often is missing

is lack of skills based training and how to do the job and then keeping up with that training as we move on

Someone to conduct multi-disciplinary teams needs assessment protocol

for forensic medical services, a protocol for a forensic mental health services court support

and preparation for going to hearings in court.

Therapy. Both group therapy and Individual therapy

Not only for the child victim but also for the non offending caregiver, typically the mother

Research is clear that the outcomes for these children is tied in many ways

to the support of the non offending caregiver, usually the mother in these cases

And then if that mother is not present or involved, we usually have to make other plans

A pantry with clothes and formula and bottles for some type of family or victim compensation to access needed money

or support for families that are in transition

Too many children's advocacy centers and businesses start out just thinking about the myopic area of child sexual abuse and exploitation

When research says in the area of Polly victimization that usually there are multiple issues

that are happening within that family involving that child

So we need to be able to meet and address all of those needs

Shelter services, case tracking, these are just some of the many areas that need to be addressed

So how does it work? Ideally, we have agreed as a multidisciplinary team

and the staff at the Children's Advocacy Center that these are the types of cases we want brought to this facility

So that design needs to keep in mind those unique needs of those victims

Again, whether they're child, pre-teen, teen or young adult,

it needs to be child and family friendly when that family or with the victim arrives there at the facility

All of the Multidisciplinary teams members, whether they're cozy, housed there

or they agree to respond immediately to the facility to begin the intervention and the protection

So all of this is anticipated and written out via what I refer to as an investigative or an intervention protocol

So the Multidisciplinary teams goes out to meet and greet the non offending caregiver and the victim

This is after the advocate greets them when they first come in to the facility with a warm smile and a friendly face

The investigators or the Multidisciplinary teams members explain to the non offending caregiver what's going to take place

And usually it's a forensic interview or other services;various paperwork

or what have you that needs to be filled out is filled out

The next step is the forensic interviewer meet and engage with the child victim

and take the child victim to a forensic interview room so that usually we record those interviews.

It's best practice to do that

And the Multidisciplinary team is in an adjoining room observing that forensic interview

And that forensic interview is conducted to meet the needs of all of those disciplines

and in anticipation of any criminal or family court that may need to take place down the line

as well as meeting the needs of the forensic medical professional

as well as the therapists, all of those disciplines,needs are being met

in this initial forensic interview

So a forensic interviewers have to be incredibly talented, very knowledgeable

and knowledgeable professionals in this process

After the forensic interviews conducted

the forensic interviewer meets with the Multidisciplinary team to make sure all the needs are met

And then the Multidisciplinary team decides who's going to go out

and speak with the non offending caregiver to find out to explain what took place during the forensic interview

as well as to share the safety plan and find out more information

about any type of risks that might be there for the family and especially for the child victim

And so all of that is outlined for the child victim

So that and then we as the multidisciplinary team, I say law enforcement, social services, forensic, medical, we have

identified step by step what needs to take place.And those things take place

Those things happen. I want to say something about initial location.

As I shared, ours evolved in many communities.As we identify more opportunities, the facilities tend to evolve

But let me share with you a piece of advice that I got

We need to put our Children’s Advocacy Center where it will work

where it will be used, that a place that child and family friendly location to go to

some place that just by the very location looks safe and removed

I take a lot of pride, and in particular date back in the early, early nineties

when no child ever came to the police department to meet with me

the investigator on his or her case, or to the governmental buildings that represent most of our disciplines

So that definitely is an area of pride.Something else to anticipate

You might want to think about visioning 10 to 20 years in advance so far as your needs moving forward

Some other areas you need to think about and anticipate is any unintended consequences

This movement of Multidisciplinary teams and the Children’s Advocacy Centers

as our children's advocacy centers has typically will absorb other agencies and entities in your community

So turf is going to be a big issue as people see that services

that they used to provide and render or no longer necessary

In this more co-ordinated, more efficient, collaborative manner

Next big one of the big questions you're going to need to address is are you going to be open 24/7?

If you're addressing child sexual exploitation, it occurs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays

Are you going to be open and available to the Multidisciplinary team

and those responders and intervener interveners 24 hours a day, seven days a week?

We talked about co-housing, but some of the other areas you need to anticipate and I'm going to end with this

There's a belief that if we build this child and family friendly facility, all of a sudden everything is going to be okay

Listen, the facility is incredibly important, as a matter of fact I'll say

We should take pride that if god forbid this, were to happen to our children

we should be so proud of the facility that we'd want to take them there

But the key to the success of any Children’s Advocacy Center is how well the multidisciplinary team functions together

how knowledgeable they are about the work that they do

How collaborative and coordinated they are in their intervention and meeting all of the holistic needs of every child

There are numerous other areas that you're going to have to deal with with good training and good consultation

These areas can be addressed as these facilities are popping up all over the world

And they are making a difference in the lives of children and the families that they seek to provide services

So I want to thank you for all that you do to keep kids safe and families

and taking on this very important issue and topic in our communities

If there's anything I could do.This is Detective Mike

Thank you for the time we spent together