Michael’s House earns re-accreditation from National Children’s Alliance

Michael’s House earns re-accreditation from the National Children’s Alliance following an extensive application and site review process.  Accreditation is the highest level of membership with National Children’s Alliance and denotes excellence in service.

Michael’s House Child Advocacy Center opened in December of 2008 and is dedicated to providing comprehensive, coordinated and compassionate services to victims of child abuse. Named in honor of Michael Mercurio, the center serves the most seriously abused children in Greene County - nearly 350 children this year alone. The team in this child-focused facility work together to deliver essential, specialized services to children and their non-offending family members.

Michael’s House was originally accredited in 2012 and must undergo a re-accreditation process every five years to ensure continual adoption of best practices.  The process is based on compliance with ten national standards to ensure effective, efficient and consistent delivery of services to child abuse victims. Accredited members must use a multidisciplinary team approach to work collaboratively in child abuse investigation, prosecution and treatment. National Children’s Alliance also considers standards regarding a center’s cultural competency and diversity, forensic interviews, victim support and advocacy, medical evaluation, therapeutic intervention and child-focused setting.

“As a team dedicated to responding to child abuse, we recognize the importance of maintaining accredited status from National Children’s Alliance,” said Teresa Wiles, Michael’s House manager.  “It not only validates our organization’s dedication to proven, effective approaches of child abuse intervention and prevention, but also contributes to consistency across the child advocacy center movement as a whole.”

“Michael’s House is to be commended for its continued commitment to effectively serve victims of child abuse,” said Teresa Huizar, executive director of National Children’s Alliance.  “As the national association for CAC centers, our goal is to ensure that every victim of child abuse has access to high quality services that result from professional collaboration. By requiring accredited centers to undergo re-accreditation every five years, we ensure that evidence-based practices are implemented and the highest quality of service is provided.”

For more information, visit www.michaelshousecac.org.

About Michael’s House

The mission of Michael’s House is to provide a coordinated team response to child maltreatment through prevention, education and advocacy in a safe and healing environment.  Children’s advocacy centers (CAC) are child-focused, facility-based programs in which representatives from many disciplines work together to conduct interviews and make team decisions on cases of child abuse. CAC models for child abuse intervention are proven and effective, bringing together trained professionals to investigate and provide medical and mental healthcare as well as support to child victims of abuse, while holding offenders accountable through the court system.  CAC locations are child-focused and designed to create a sense of safety and security for child victims.  Some services include:

• forensic interviewing
• forensic medical evaluations
• victim advocacy and support
• specialized mental health services
• community education and outreach

About National Children’s Alliance

National Children's Alliance is the national association and accrediting body for more than 750 children’s advocacy centers serving each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Dedicated to helping local communities respond to allegations of child abuse in ways that are effective and efficient, and put the needs of child victims of abuse first, National Children’s Alliance provides support and advocacy to its accredited membership, as well as numerous developing centers, multidisciplinary teams and child abuse professionals around the country, and the world. As the national authority on multidisciplinary approaches to supporting child victims of abuse, the purpose of National Children’s Alliance is to empower local communities to provide comprehensive, coordinated and compassionate services to victims of child abuse. Founded in 1998, National Children’s Alliance provides accreditation opportunities, financial assistance, training, technical assistance, research and education to communities, child abuse professionals and children’s advocacy centers throughout the United States in support of child abuse intervention, advocacy and prevention. www.nationalchildrensalliance.org