Quality Assurance for the Response to Child Abuse

Since June of 2000, the South Carolina Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers (SCNCAC) has been providing support, advocacy, quality assurance, and statewide leadership for Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs), all to empower South Carolina communities and CACs to deliver a best practice response to child abuse.

SCNCAC recently received a five-year grant from The Duke Endowment and support from the BlueCross® BlueShield® of South Carolina Foundation, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, to research and establish South Carolina Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) accreditation standards that supplement and enhance the National Children’s Alliance accreditation standards for CACs.

To start this five-year project, SCNCAC, in collaboration with the South Carolina Children’s Justice Act Taskforce, is forming an advisory committee to provide input into the development of SCNCAC South Carolina Children’s Advocacy Center accreditation standards. The SCNCAC accreditation standards advisory committee will consist of 15 workgroups which are in alignment with the proposed accreditation standards. SCNCAC is seeking Children’s Justice Act Taskforce members, CAC staff, and other professionals involved in the statewide response to child abuse to serve on one or more of the workgroups that align with their area of expertise in the response to child abuse.

We are excited about our five-year quality assurance plan and this first step of the plan to establish South Carolina CAC Accreditation Standards to supplement and enhance the national standards that will better meet the needs of children, families, and MDT partners while improving the child abuse response in South Carolina.

We are thankful for the partnership of The Duke Endowment and the BlueCross® BlueShield® of South Carolina Foundation.

Based in Charlotte and established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, The Duke Endowment is a private foundation that strengthens communities in North Carolina and South Carolina by nurturing children, promoting health, educating minds and enriching spirits. Since its founding, it has distributed $4.8 billion in grants. The Endowment shares a name with Duke University and Duke Energy, but all are separate organizations.

The BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina Foundation was established in 2003. The Foundation issues grants to support projects that aim to promote the health of South Carolinians and to increase access to health care for the economically disadvantaged. The mission of the Foundation is to promote and support healthier South Carolinians, particularly the economically vulnerable, by supporting solutions to address gaps in health care and serving as an agent of change to support innovation and value-added public-private partnerships.