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 Responding to child sexual abuse is a complex process requiring the input and effort of a wide variety of professionals. Children's Advocacy Centers (CAC) are places where community professionals gather together to work toward the best outcome possible to ensure the child's safety and well-being. Children's Advocacy Centers in our Commonwealth provide a safe, child-friendly environment, where the child and non-offending caregivers can find a full array of services including forensic interviewing, advocacy, mental health and medical services, provided in a multidisciplinary term approach.

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A Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) is a child-focused facility where representatives from many disciplines - law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, mental health, medical and victim advocacy - work together, conducting joint forensic interviews, and making team decisions, about the investigations, treatment, management and prosecution of child abuse cases. CACs are community-based programs designed to meet the unique needs of a community, so no two CACs look exactly alike. Victims of child abuse require a multifaceted community response and no single agency, individual or discipline has the necessary knowledge, skills or resources, to serve the needs of all children and their families. The combined wisdom and knowledge of professionals from different disciplines will result in a more complete understanding of case issues and the most effective, child and family-focused system response.

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CACs are defined in the child protection act of Kentucky law (KRS 620.020).