Children’s Home Child Advocacy Center (CAC) is participating in the research and development of a Community Justice Center in Rapid City. Tifanie Petro, Director of Prevention and CAC, is helping lead this innovative program.

The concept centers what’s best for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse—and in CAC’s case, child sexual abuse. A co-located, multi-disciplinary service center, or “one-stop shop,” reduces the number of places that victims must go to receive needed services.

Using a model of collaboration to provide wraparound services from one location, the Family Justice Center model combines all available resources in a community to provide a coordinated, centralized service delivery system with accountability to victims and survivors. 

Why is This Needed?

The cost of not fully addressing victims’ needs can be seen when today’s victims self-medicate with drugs, alcohol or other high-risk activities, likely becoming tomorrow’s call for service.

If their needs are not addressed, the children CAC serves are likely to experience further victimization and the services they require become more intense and costly. Additionally, without help a victim is less likely to cooperate with the investigation. If they don’t cooperate, the criminal case is often dismissed, which means offenders are not held accountable and are free to victimize others.

Both untreated victims and unaccountable offenders will both contribute to increasing populations in our jails, prisons, treatment centers and costly residential service providers.

Under One Roof

Ultimately, the Justice Center would include local law enforcement, child protection, CAC, state prosecutors and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Other participants would be representatives from youth and family services, community health, health and human services, domestic violence center, chaplain services, behavioral health care and federal law enforcement/prosecutors.

Ideally, the co-location system would support:

• All needs of victims
• Protection of children from the adverse aspects of the investigative process
• Holding offenders accountable through collaborative investigative practices
• Enhancing protective factors through a strength-based approach
• Acknowledging historical and intergenerational trauma
• Making culturally responsive practices accessible
• Increasing economic justice and reducing the cost of repeated and long-term services as children’s and families’ needs are addressed fully
• Families healing and thriving as they are exposed to research-based and culturally responsive services offered by a multitude of service providers

Starting Small

In the meantime, CAC is moving forward with representatives from the Rapid City Police Department, Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office and Pennington County Sheriff’s working on location.