The Listen and Learn Project
With Southern Regional and the Native American Children's Alliance

SRCAC partnered with the Native American Children’s Alliance (NACA) and Children’s Advocacy Centers of Oklahoma to provide a one-day “Listen & Learn,” which took place on May 22, 2018, at the Wyandotte Nation’s Riverbend Casino in Wyandotte, Oklahoma. This project was funded through the SRCAC 2018 Missing and Exploited Children Grant offered through Fox Valley Training and Technical Assistance.
 
The concept of the Listen and Learn was developed by Gina South, attorney and former State Director of the Alabama Network of Child Advocacy Centers. Gina is an active board member of NACA, which is an independent, non-profit organization committed to helping end child abuse and neglect in Indian Country. NACA provides training and technical assistance to tribal communities and child abuse professionals nationwide in response to child maltreatment in Indian Country. The first Listen and Learn was piloted with much success in Alabama in July 2017, in collaboration with the Poarch Creek Band of Indians and the Alabama Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers.

The two primary goals of the project include:

  1. Open the conversation between tribal officials, multidisciplinary team (MDT) members, and Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) staff to increase access to services to Native children.
  2. Increase the collaboration between identified entities to make CAC services available to Native children. 

In attendance at the Oklahoma Listen and Learn were 38 participants from Wyandotte, Quapaw, and Seneca-Cayuga tribes, as well as state and local child abuse professionals. The morning began with introductions as Chief Friend of the Wyandotte Nation welcomed the group and provided a history of his tribal roots in Oklahoma. NACA provided information regarding the importance of collaboration when investigating child abuse and shed light on historical trauma among Native Americans, particularly emphasizing how this can impact trust when striving to establish relationships between tribal and government entities. After lunch, the group engaged in several interactive processes that illustrated the need for the MDT approach in serious cases of child abuse. The day wrapped up with an exercise identifying steps that should be taken by the MDT to assess different types of child abuse.  

The beauty of the Listen and Learn concept is that it can be tailored to the needs of the community. NACA works closely with the CAC State Chapter to first identify gaps in service. Then, NACA connects directly with local agencies and tribal communities to determine the services that are in place, learn about the strengths and challenges they are facing, and strategize how to move forward to work better together. SRCAC will continue to partner with NACA to promote and hold future Listen and Learn projects within the Southern Region. Additionally, Jerri Sites of SRCAC will co-author a Research-to-Practice paper with NACA that will focus on the Listen and Learn concept. It will be published in the fall of 2018. For more information, contact SRCAC Outreach Coordinator Jerri Sites at jsites@nationalcac.org .
Attendees at the Listen and Learn Project in Oklahoma.

Online Medical Training Academy: Pediatric/Adolescent Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Course (PSANE)

Our regional partner, the Midwest Regional CAC, is excited to announce the launch of their brand new online Pediatric/Adolescent Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner course. This is a highly interactive online course that has been endorsed by the International Association of Forensic Nurses and offers 46.35 ANCC credits. Completion of this course fulfills the required didactic portion of the IAFN certification requirements to sit for the PSANE certification program and meets the didactic training requirements of the NCA Standards for Accreditation. For more details and registration, please visit the Midwest Regional website .
Need Resources?
Southern Regional has added new resources to our website, including templates for MDT case review and sample employee evaluations. Have a resource you want to share with the CAC world? Contact Meredith Wilkes .
Mark Your Calendars!
September 25-27, 2018
Lake Junaluska Conference and Retreat Center


The Children's Advocacy Centers of North Carolina will offer specialized training tracks for law enforcement, medical professionals, prosecutors and other disciplines involved with the investigation, evaluation, prosecution and treatment of child abuse.




Contact Ken Wooten at ken@cacnc.org with questions
or for more information.

Connect With Us
Spotlight is a newsletter prepared by Southern Regional CAC that focuses on current topics, ideas, trainings, and conferences which are designed to further the knowledge and practice of CAC professionals within the region. We hope you find the information helpful! Let us know if you have specific topics you’d like to see in future newsletters.
This publication is funded through grant #2016-CI-FX-K002 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components, operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this publication (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).
Southern Regional CAC | #justtryingtohelpsomekids | Vol. 1 No. 5: July 2018