La Rabida Children’s Advocacy Center (LRCAC) is a safe and child friendly environment where children and adolescents receive supportive services following allegations of sexual abuse, severe physical abuse, other forms of child maltreatment, or exposure to violent crime. The mission of LRCAC is to reduce trauma and provide supportive services to children and families involved in investigations of child abuse and violent crime using a multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach that combines efforts of law enforcement, child protection investigators, prosecutors, medical personnel, and mental health providers. LRCAC provides forensic interviewing, advocacy, and follow up services at no cost to children and families living in the south suburbs of Cook County.

Services provided at the La Rabida Children’s Advocacy Center include:

• Centralized Coordination: When an investigation involving a child as a victim of abuse or witness to a violent crime is initiated in the South Suburbs of Cook County, children are referred to the La Rabida Children’s Advocacy Center. The LRCAC Coordinator brings together professionals from local law enforcement, DCFS, and the State’s Attorney’s Office to provide a coordinated investigation into reports of child maltreatment. The LRCAC Coordinator is the first point of LRCAC contact with families, working to familiarize them with the LRCAC process, assess initial needs, and schedule visits for children to come to the center.
• Forensic Interviews: When there is a report of child maltreatment, a risk for maltreatment, or a situation where a child witnesses a violent crime, law enforcement or child protection investigators may request a forensic interview for a child. A forensic interview gives a child an opportunity to talk about their experience one time, in a child-friendly space, one-on-one with a trained professional who specializes in child development, memory, suggestibility and trauma. Forensic Interviews are designed as a structured conversation where open-ended, non-leading questions are asked. Forensic interviews help lesson additional trauma to the child during the course of the investigation and reduce the number of times a child has to retell their experience. Forensic interviews are directly observed by investigators and recorded to preserve evidence for prosecution.
• Advocacy: Every child and family that comes to the LRCAC is paired with an advocate. The advocate works closely with the family, walking them through the day at the LRCAC and providing support throughout the process. Every family is given an assessment and linked to services based on their needs, including medical and mental health providers. Advocates stay in regular contact with families following their visit to the center, keeping them informed throughout the investigation process and providing support. Advocates offer court advocacy services to children and families when a case proceeds through the Criminal Justice System.
• Mental Health: The La Rabida Children’s Advocacy Center has a linkage agreement with the La Rabida Chicago Children’s Trauma Center (CCTC) to offer on-site counseling to children who have experienced abuse and their non-offending family members. Using trauma-focused and evidence based therapy models, CCTC therapists work to help children process through their trauma experience, build healthy coping skills, and heal from abuse.

Location

La Rabida Children’s Advocacy Center is an offsite satellite program under the Behavioral Health Division of La Rabida Children’s Hospital. The Children’s Advocacy Cerner program is located in the far south Suburbs of Cook County in the Village of Park Forest.