Resource for Evaluating Child Advocacy Centers

The evaluations presented use criteria for effectiveness based on the National Children's Alliance membership standards, excluding organizational structure. These standards encompass seven core components: child-friendly facility, multidisciplinary team, child investigative interview, medical examination, mental health services, victim advocacy, and case review. The first chapter introduces evaluation concepts, followed by a chapter that discusses the importance of evaluation and its benefits, along with barriers to evaluation and ways to overcome them. Chapter 3 discusses the need for and how to assemble an evaluation team, and the next three chapters present detailed information on the three most common types of program evaluations, namely, program monitoring evaluations, outcome evaluations, and impact evaluations. Two other chapters discuss issues related to recruiting and retaining participants in an evaluation and outline essential issues that must be addressed before executing an evaluation. The remaining three chapters provide information on data collection and analysis and discuss the primary components of an evaluation report. Eight appendices complement the chapters by providing various sample measures, findings from a telephone interview with CAC administrators, references, and a glossary.