Gov. Justice announces $2.15 million in Child Advocacy Center grant awards across West Virginia

​CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announced today that he has awarded $2,149,670 in Child Advocacy Center (CAC) Grant Program Funds to 22 projects. These funds are awarded to local non-profit Child Advocacy Centers throughout the state to address the growing problem of child abuse and neglect. The recent awards are focused on a multi-disciplinary response to investigation, treatment, and prosecution of child abuse cases by providing services such as advocacy, education, forensic interviews, evaluations, and referrals.

The current Legislature re-appropriated funding to implement a system of child advocacy centers throughout the state. This funding is intended to provide grant relief to be passed through the Justice and Community Services (JCS) section of the West Virginia Division of Administrative Services, to those child advocacy centers in need of supplemental financial assistance. 

Funds were awarded to the following:

Funds will be used for a facility-based community partnership, which will provide intake, investigation, and follow-up services for victims of child abuse, ages 3-17 in Mineral County.

Funds will provide the best care to children and their families in the context of a multidisciplinary approach to the evaluation, care, and treatment of victims of child abuse.

Funds will be used to provide and coordinate child-centered, site-based services to victims of child maltreatment in Brooke and Hancock counties. Funds will also ensure each case has the full support of the multidisciplinary team, making certain each child receives services that will protect them from further harm and trauma.

Funds will provide the facility, the staff, and the support necessary for a coordinated multidisciplinary response for the investigation and intervention of allegations of child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse in Greenbrier County.

Funds will be used to expand and improve services by providing training opportunities to the multidisciplinary team and staff, while also improving intervention and prevention programming at the Mercer County Child Advocacy Center.​

Funds will be used for a child-focused program that encourages a multidisciplinary team approach to the investigation and treatment of child abuse, in turn strengthening and coordinating the community's response to child abuse in Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan counties.

Funds will be used for the implementation of the Child Advocacy Center in order to ensure a comprehensive, culturally competent multidisciplinary investigative team response to allegations of child abuse in a dedicated, child-friendly setting and provide or facilitate mental health interventions and victim advocacy services.

Funds will be used to provide victim services such as advocacy, forensic interviews, and mental health and medical referrals/services for children in Ohio and Marshall counties.

Funds will be used for a child-focused, facility-based program in Harrison County where representatives from many disciplines meet to discuss and make decisions about the investigation, treatment, and prosecution of child abuse cases to prevent further victimization of children.

Funds will be used to provide and coordinate a more humane, culturally competent, site-based, multidisciplinary team-centered investigation and intervention for children alleging criminal abuse.

Funds will provide site-based services to victims of child maltreatment and ensure each case has the full support of the multidisciplinary team, thereby decreasing trauma and increasing support in Logan County.

Funds will be used to provide a safe place in Marion County for children who are victims of sexual and physical abuse to have their stories clearly heard and begin the healing process.

Funds will be used to provide center-based services to child abuse victims including forensic interviews and evaluations, advocacy, education, referrals, therapy, and coordinating Monongalia County's multidisciplinary response to investigations and interventions for child abuse victims.

Funds will be used to provide a unified system of response to allegations of sexual or severe physical abuse and/or neglect, while also providing a safe, neutral, child-friendly site where additional trauma for the victim is significantly reduced.

Funds will be used to provide Braxton, Webster, and Nicholas counties' multidisciplinary investigative team a child-friendly environment for children who have been sexually or physically abused.

Funds will be used for a staff person to provide training opportunities to the multidisciplinary team and other staff members and strengthen the overall program at Randolph and Tucker counties' Child Advocacy Centers.

Funds will be used for a program coordinator to ensure services will be expanded at the Summers County Child Advocacy Center.

Funds will be used to enhance and strengthen the multidisciplinary team's approach to investigating and prosecuting offenders.

Funds will be used for the Child Advocacy Center to support a multidisciplinary and unified response to child abuse and neglect.

This project will engage the broader community, beyond child advocacy centers and their teams of professionals, to engage the conversation about child sexual abuse. The project will also bring increasing awareness and decrease stigma, meaning child abuse will continue to become an issue of shared community concern and priority.

Funds will be used to reduce the traumatic effects of abuse, protect children from maltreatment, seek justice for child victims, investigate abuse as a team, and strengthen the community's ability to nurture children, while keeping the comfort and safety of the child as the first priority in Tyler and Wetzel counties.

Funds will be used for services such as forensic interviewing, advocacy, and mental health for all children subject to any type of abuse in Cabell County.