National Children's Alliance Oversees Opening of First Child Advocacy Center in Turkey

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In late July, 2010, Teresa Huizar, executive director of National Children's Alliance, joined Turkish child welfare professionals to provide training and share best practices around the internationally implemented children's advocacy center model.  The Turkish Ministry of Health called upon Ms. Huizar and her 17 years of child abuse intervention experience to support preparations for the opening of the Ankara Children's Advocacy Center, which is the first children's advocacy center to operate in Turkey.

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Children's advocacy centers are proven effective models for child abuse intervention that bring together trained professionals to investigate allegations of child abuse and provide medical and mental healthcare support to child victims and their families. This multi-disciplinary approach to responding to instances of child abuse is modeled on the concept of coordination between community agencies and professionals involved in the child abuse intervention system.

"There is no history of multi-disciplinary team development in Turkey," remarked Ms. Huizar, executive director of National Children's Alliance. "The introduction of the children's advocacy center model in Ankara marks a major cultural shift in responding to child abuse cases in Turkey where a more segmented approach is the norm. This speaks volumes about the resiliency and versatility of this community-based approach."

Legislation was enacted to fund the pilot children's advocacy center after an improperly handled child sexual abuse case in 2009 spurred public outrage. To avoid similar instances in the future, the Ministry of Health was designated to implement the children's advocacy center model in a hospital-based setting.   Given the international reputation of the children's advocacy center model for putting the needs of child victims of abuse first, Turkish officials looked to National Children's Alliance and to Dr. Resmiye Oral of the University of Iowa (and a native of Turkey) to provide guidance for how to localize the multi-disciplinary team approach to fit the needs of the Ankara community. As part of this process, National Children's Alliance granted Associate Member status to the Ankara Children's Advocacy Center.

National Children's Alliance offers three different levels of membership designed to meet the individual needs of children's advocacy centers and the communities they serve. As an Associate Member, the Ankara Children's Advocacy Center will have access to technical assistance materials and ongoing support from child advocacy professionals in the United States as they work to achieve full accreditation status.  

"National Children's Alliance membership brings the Ankara Children's Advocacy Center the support it needs to become a replicable model for the country," remarked Ms. Huizar. "The Turkish Ministry of Health has every reason to believe it will need children's advocacy centers in both Istanbul and Izmir, which in conjunction with Ankara would change the way 80% of the country's population responds to child abuse."

National Children's Alliance's continued support of the Ankara Children's Advocacy Center is significant in advancing the international children's advocacy center movement. This type of collaboration and coordinated service delivery will improve the experience and well being of children around the world who are subject to child abuse intervention.

For more information about National Children's Alliance and the national accreditation standards for children's advocacy centers, please visit www.nationalchildrensalliance.org.

National Children's Alliance (NCA) is a national association 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. As the accrediting body for the over 700 Children's Advocacy Centers around the country, NCA provides training, financial support, technical assistance, leadership, national advocacy and access to current research findings on a national level to Children's Advocacy Centers around the country, as well as numerous developing centers, multidisciplinary teams and child abuse professionals. As the national authority on multidisciplinary approaches to supporting child victims of abuse, NCA's purpose is to empower local communities to provide comprehensive, coordinated and compassionate services to victims of child abuse. www.nationalchildrensalliance.org  

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Teresa Huizar

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SOURCE National Children's Alliance