The Florida Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers (FNCAC)

HISTORY

During the late 1970's, Florida's family service agencies developed a multi-disciplinary team approach to handling abuse investigations. Child Protection Teams were developed to manage each case study and to design solutions for the problems that led to the abuse. Concurrently, the National Children's Advocacy Center movement had begun; soon the concept of advocacy centers emerged in Florida. These centers provided child-friendly settings where investigations could occur and where treatment and prosecution plans could be designed. They also became sites for development of preventive strategies to reduce incidence of child abuse. The first Children's Advocacy Center in Florida opened in 1994, in Daytona Beach, serving Volusia and Flagler Counties. The Florida Network of Children's Advocacy Centers was formed in 1996. Today there are 20 Children's Advocacy Centers in the state, with several others in the process of development. Click Here to see a full list of CACs.