[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 118 (Tuesday, June 21, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-14973]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: June 21, 1994]



BILLING CODE 1505-01-D
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Part II





Department of Justice





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Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention



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Program Announcement for Regional Children's Advocacy Centers; Notice
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

 
Program Announcement for Regional Children's Advocacy Centers

AGENCY: Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and 
Delinquency Prevention, Justice.

ACTION: Notice of solicitation of assistance applications for Regional 
Children's Advocacy Centers.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 
(OJJDP) is publishing an announcement of grants to support four 
Regional Children's Advocacy Centers. An OJJDP Application Kit 
containing a copy of the Guidelines, application form (Standard Form 
424), standard and special conditions, the OJJDP Peer Review Guideline, 
OJJDP Competition and Peer Review Procedures and other supplemental 
information relevant to the application process can be obtained by 
calling the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse, toll-free, 24 hours a day, 
(800) 638-8736.

DATES: Applications are due August 22, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 633 
Indiana Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20531.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emily C. Martin, Director Training, 
Dissemination and Technical Assistance Division, (202) 307-5940.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Purpose

    To support four Regional Children's Advocacy Centers that will 
encourage and facilitate the creation of local children's advocacy 
centers, and strengthen those now in existence through the delivery of 
training and technical assistance.

Background

    Section 6 of Public Law 102-586, codified at 42 U.S.C. 13001 et. 
seq., addressing the 1992 Amendments to the Victims of Child Abuse Act 
(the Act), provides for the establishment of four Regional Children's 
Advocacy Centers for purposes of providing information, technical 
assistance and training to assist communities in establishing multi-
disciplinary programs which respond to child abuse. National Child 
Abuse and Neglect Data System Working Paper 2 reports that based on 
1990 revised data, States received and referred for investigation 
approximately 1.7 million reports on an estimated 2.6 million children 
who are the alleged subjects of child abuse and neglect. In 1991, 
States received nearly 1.8 million reports on approximately 2.7 million 
children. The number reported in 1991 represents an increase of 
approximately 2.4 percent from 1990 data.1 Draft Working Paper 3 
of the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System reported 
approximately 918,263 substantiated and indicated victims of child 
maltreatment from 49 states in 1992. Of these, approximately 14% 
(129,982) were sexually abused.2 The Carnegie Corporation of New 
York reported, in its publication Starting Points, that one in three 
victims of physical abuse is a baby less than a year old and that in 
1990, more one year-olds were maltreated than in any previous year for 
which data are available. Additionally, Starting Points reported that 
``almost 90 percent of children who died of abuse and neglect in 1990 
were under the age of five; and 53 percent were less than a year 
old.''3 Based upon its annual telephone survey of states, the 
National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse reported that at least 
three children a day die from physical abuse inflicted by a parent or 
caretaker.4
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    \1\U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center 
on Child Abuse and Neglect, National Child Abuse and Neglect Data 
System Working Paper 2, p.25.
    \2\U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center 
on Child Abuse and Neglect, Unpublished, Draft Working Paper 3 
(1994) The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System.
    \3\Carnegie Corporation of New York, Starting Points--Meeting 
the Needs of Our Youngest Children, April 1994, p.4.
    \4\National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse, Current 
Trends in Child Abuse Reporting and Fatalities: The results of the 
1991 annual fifty state survey, Chicago, Illinois 1992.
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    To address this problem, in 1985, then Madison County Alabama 
District Attorney Robert E. (Bud) Cramer mobilized professionals in 
Madison County to establish a Children's Advocacy Center for victims of 
child abuse. The Center is a facility-based, child-focused program 
which coordinates the response to victims of child abuse through multi-
disciplinary teams of representatives from statutorily mandated and 
other involved agencies. Team members include representatives from 
child protective services, law enforcement, the district attorney's 
office, and the mental health and medical fields. The elements of the 
Madison County model are incorporated in the 1992 Amendments to the 
Victims of Child Abuse Act.
    A major goal of children's advocacy centers is to prevent the 
inadvertent revictimization of an abused child by the judicial and 
social service systems in their efforts to protect the child. The 
multi-disciplinary team provides joint interviews of child victims and 
makes joint decisions about appropriate actions ranging from 
prosecution to referral for mental health services. Child victims and 
non-offending family members are assigned an advocate to help them cope 
with the criminal justice system's processing of their case. As a 
consequence of a coordinated response, child victims are spared the 
pain and confusion of multiple interviews by prosecutors, protective 
service workers and social workers.
    In 1990, the National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers 
(National Network) was incorporated in Madison County, Alabama, as a 
national membership organization of local children's advocacy centers. 
Its purposes are to support the development, growth and continuation of 
non-profit, facility-based programs utilizing a multi-disciplinary team 
approach for handling child abuse cases, and for setting standards and 
regulating practices of children's advocacy centers. The growth in the 
number of children's advocacy centers and the success of the National 
Network in establishing performance standards led Congress to amend the 
Victims of Child Abuse Act in 1992 to authorize this program.
    Five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) has been appropriated for 
Fiscal Year 1994 to establish four Regional Children's Advocacy Centers 
to provide training and technical assistance in communities throughout 
the United States, toward which this announcement is directed. An 
additional one million dollars ($1,000,000) has been appropriated to 
provide direct funding assistance to community organizations and 
agencies for development and expansion of local children's advocacy 
centers. The one million dollar appropriation will be awarded to the 
National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers by OJJDP under a 
cooperative agreement to be awarded in July 1994 for purposes of 
providing funds to assist local communities interested in developing or 
expanding local children's advocacy centers. It is expected that these 
funds will be available in the fall of 1994 through a national 
competitive solicitation issued by the National Network.
    The Act requires coordination in the delivery of technical 
assistance by the Regional Children's Advocacy Centers with the 
activities of local children's advocacy centers that are funded under 
the provisions of the Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. 13002. This will be 
achieved by representation of the grantees selected to implement the 
Regional Children's Advocacy Centers on the Board of Directors of the 
National Network as ex officio members who will also serve on a 
Committee of the Board on Training and Technical Assistance.

Goal

    To increase the number of facility-based multi-disciplinary 
children's advocacy centers for purposes of providing coordinated, non-
traumatizing services to children and families who are victims of abuse 
and neglect.

Objectives

     To assist communities to develop a comprehensive, multi-
disciplinary response to child abuse that is designed to meet the needs 
of child victims and their families.
     To enhance the skills of volunteers and professionals 
staffing multi-disciplinary, facility-based Children's Advocacy 
Centers.
     To provide support for non-offending family members of 
child victims of abuse and neglect.
     To enhance coordination among community agencies and 
professions involved in the intervention, prevention, prosecution, and 
investigation systems that respond to child abuse cases.
     To support national coordination among children's advocacy 
centers for purposes of maximizing efficient and effective use of 
technical assistance and training resources.
     To facilitate the development and utilization of training 
and technical assistance materials.
     To promote the implementation of national standards of 
practice.

Program Strategy

    OJJDP will competitively select one applicant from each of the four 
census regions (Northeast, Midwest, South and West), and award 
cooperative agreements of up to $125,000 to each. The states identified 
in these regions are:
    Northeast: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey;
    South: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, 
Arkansas, Texas, District of Columbia, Delaware, Oklahoma, and West 
Virginia;
    Midwest: Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, 
Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota;
    West: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, 
Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, and California.
    While each grantee will participate in national coordination of the 
Children's Advocacy Program through representation on the Board of 
Directors of the National Network of Children's Advocacy Centers, the 
primary focus of each will be on delivery of technical assistance and 
training to children's advocacy centers, and on communities interested 
in establishing multi-disciplinary, facility-based local advocacy 
centers in the census regions where they are located or are otherwise 
designated to serve. Pursuant to the Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. 
13001b(b)(2)(A), the Regional Children's Advocacy Centers will assist 
communities in:
     Developing a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary response to 
child abuse;
     Establishing free-standing facilities for providing multi-
disciplinary services to child victims and their families;
     Preventing or reducing trauma to children caused by 
multiple contacts with community professionals;
     Providing families with needed services;
     Maintaining open communication and case coordination among 
community professionals and agencies involved in child protection 
efforts;
     Coordinating and tracking investigative, preventive, 
prosecutorial, and treatment efforts;
     Supporting effective investigative, preventive, 
prosecutorial, and treatment efforts;
     Enhancing professional skills of professionals and 
volunteers who support local children's advocacy centers; and
     Enhancing community understanding of child abuse.

Eligibility Requirements

    Applicants are invited from local public and private/non-profit 
children's advocacy agencies and organizations who can demonstrate the 
existence of a combination of two or more of the following:
     The successful operation of a facility-based children's 
advocacy center;
     Multi-disciplinary staff experienced in providing 
coordinated services to child victims and non-offending family members;
     Experience in providing training and technical assistance 
to other children's advocacy centers;
     National expertise in providing training and technical 
assistance to communities with respect to supporting the work of 
professionals and volunteers providing multi-disciplinary services to 
child victims and their families.

Selection Criteria

    Applications will initially be screened to determine if the 
applicant meets the eligibility requirements. They will then be 
reviewed and rated as a regional group on the extent to which they meet 
the following criteria:
    1. Conceptualization of the Problem. (15 Points) The applicant must 
demonstrate a clear understanding of the status and developmental needs 
of children's advocacy centers in the census region in which they would 
target their services.
    2. Statement of Objectives. (10 Points) The objectives to be 
achieved by the project must be clearly defined with a delineation of 
the services which would be provided during this grant period.
    3. Project Design. (15 Points) The procedures, workplan, tasks and 
proposed products of the project must clearly reflect how identified 
activities will achieve the stated objectives.
    4. Project Management. (10 Points) The project's management 
structure and staffing must be adequate for the successful 
implementation and completion of the project. The management plan 
describes a system whereby logistic activities are handled in the most 
efficient and economical manner.
    5. Staffing. (20 Points) The staff must demonstrate a high degree 
of expertise in management and delivery of multi-disciplinary 
investigation and intervention services to victims of child abuse and 
their families.
    6. Organizational Capability. (20 Points) The applicant 
organization's ability to conduct the project successfully must be 
documented in the proposal. Organizational experience with facility 
based, multi-disciplinary responses to victims of child abuse is 
mandatory.
    7. Budget. (10 Points) The proposed budget must be reasonable, 
allowable and cost effective with respect to the activities to be 
undertaken.

Selection Process

    If no acceptable applications are submitted from one or more of the 
designated regions, the next highest rated application from one of the 
other regions may be selected if it is feasible to provide the required 
services to the targeted region.

Award Period

    Each project will be funded for 12 months. Additional funding will 
depend upon future appropriations and satisfactory performance under 
the assistance award.

Award Amount

    Up to $125,000 will be available for each of the four projects.

Due Date

    Applications must be received by mail or delivered to OJJDP by 
August 22, 1994, at Room 709, 633 Indiana Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20531.
John J. Wilson
Acting Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 94-14973 Filed 6-20-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-18-P