Amplifying Voices: Advanced Victim Advocacy Training Series
In the coordinated response to child abuse, victim advocates hold a distinct, essential vantage point: serving as the primary conduit for the child’s emotional well-being, behavioral responses, and family realities.
Amplifying Voices is an advanced, practical training series designed for experienced advocates who are ready to elevate their collaborative impact. Moving beyond routine “status updates,” the series equips advocates to actively shape multidisciplinary strategy, inform investigative and legal timelines, and ensure the child’s perspective remains front and center.
The series explicitly welcomes and bridges advocates from all operational venues—including CACs, prosecutor’s offices, law enforcement agencies, and community partner organizations—fostering shared language, mutual understanding, and elevated trauma-informed practice.
Session 3: Safeguarding the Complex Voice: Trauma, Mental Health, and Assessing Capacity (January)
Core Focus: Examining how trauma and mental health impact child capacity, demystifying diagnostic and behavioral labels.
Key Topics:
- Deconstructing what “cognitively impaired” or “unstable” actually means in practice versus clinical or legal assumptions.
- Formulating framing questions for the MDT to better assess whether emotional or behavioral symptoms truly impede participation in forensic interviews or trial proceedings.
- Advocating for trauma-informed accommodations that safely protect and support child involvement throughout the life of a case.
