Mission
CAP’s mission is to end child abuse in Chautauqua County. When abuse occurs, CAP coordinates a community response to bring healing, hope, and justice to these children and families.
Vision
CAP’s vision is to see healthy children and families create a safe and engaged community.
The Chautauqua County Child Advocacy Program is a safe, child-friendly center that supports a multi-disciplinary investigative approach to child physical and sexual abuse allegations. Our Center brings together agencies in one child-friendly setting that is physically and psychologically safe. In doing this we reduce unnecessary duplication of interviews thereby lessening the trauma experienced by child victims and non-offending family members, and holding individuals accountable for their victimization of children.
What is the Multi-Disciplinary Team?
The Multi-Disciplinary team started over 20 years ago informally. After many attempts to receive help with grants and being denied, District Attorney David Foley applied for a grant for CAP’s cause and was successful. The District Attorney then hired a Project Director, Jana McDermott, in 2007 and the group has grown from sharing an office with the district attorney’s office to having a space of their own on west 3 rd street. The team is the heart of our CAP’s response to allegations of child abuse. Each person is crucial to maximizing the ability to provide thorough and effective services to children and their families.
For more information read about our Multidisciplinary Team
- 72 percent of all children referred to CAP are under the age of 12
- Statistics show that one in 10 children in our county will be sexually abused before the age of 18
- Of those encounters, 90 percent of abused children know their perpetrators personally.
