Federal Government Provides Funding to Expand Alisa's Wish Child and Youth Advocacy Centre
(firmenpresse) - MAPLE RIDGE, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/09/15 -- Department of Justice Canada
Today, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Peter MacKay, accompanied by Randy Kamp, MP for Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission, announced nearly $310,000 in funding to Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Community Services to expand victim services provided by Alisa's Wish Child and Youth Advocacy Centre in Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows, British Columbia.
Child advocacy centres (CACs) and child and youth advocacy centres (CYACs) help child and youth victims and their families to navigate the criminal justice system. They provide a safe child- and youth-friendly environment where a coordinated team of professionals works to meet the specific needs of each person. The work of a multidisciplinary team in a CYAC or a CAC can greatly reduce the emotional and mental harm to child and youth victims involved in the criminal justice system.
In Economic Action Plan 2015, the Government committed to provide additional funding to CACs and CYACs. Starting in 2016-17, the Government will provide $5.25 million over four years and $2.1 million on an annual basis thereafter, to make the support and services provided by CACs and CYACs more accessible in communities across the country.
Quick Facts
Quotes
"Our Government is committed to standing up for victims of crime, especially those who are most vulnerable. Young victims and witnesses of crime have unique needs and have to be treated with special care and attention. Our Government is pleased to support Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Community Services with their expansion of the Alisa's Wish Child and Youth Advocacy Centre. Centres like these create safe, child-focussed environments where victims and their families can go to receive the services they need both to navigate the criminal justice system and to heal."
Peter MacKay, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
"The expansion of the Alisa's Wish Child and Youth Advocacy Centre will bring more assistance and important services to young victims of crime and witnesses in our region. I am proud that our Government takes these services seriously and is investing in local organizations such as Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Community Services to help deliver these critical services to our community."
Randy Kamp, Member of Parliament, Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission
"Alisa's Wish Child and Youth Advocacy Centre is a compelling community initiative that integrates services of the RCMP, Ministry of Children and Family Development, counselling agencies, victim services and support for young victims and their non-offending family members. The Centre provides a child-centered environment where victims receive sensitive and efficient service to prevent re-traumatization as well as enhancing the quality of evidence collected for investigation and prosecution. Critical to the project's success, government funding allowed the multidisciplinary committee to secure a facility, hire a specialized child advocate, further integrate practices, and promote the Centre within the community to children, youth, families and donors."
Vicki Kipps, Executive Director, Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Community Services
Related Products
- Backgrounder: Federal Victims Strategy and Victims Fund
- Backgrounder: Child Advocacy Centres
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BACKGROUNDER
Federal Victims Strategy and Victims Fund
The Federal Victims Strategy brings together federal efforts to give victims of crime a more effective voice in the criminal justice system. It was created in 2007 and made permanent in 2011. The objective of the Strategy, which is led by the Department of Justice Canada, is to give victims a more effective voice in the criminal justice system. The Department works in close collaboration with other federal departments and agencies, as well as victims, victim advocates, provincial and territorial governments, service providers, and others involved in the criminal justice system. The Department develops policy and criminal law reform, funds various programs to meet the needs of victims of crime, explores best practices to address victims' needs, and raises awareness about the concerns of victims of crime and their role in the criminal justice system.
Within the Federal Victims Strategy, the Victims Fund is a grants and contributions program administered by the Department of Justice. More than $13M is available each year to provinces, territories and non-governmental organizations whose projects, activities and operations support the objectives of the Federal Victims Strategy.
The Victims Fund provides funding to projects and activities that:
Since 2006, the Government of Canada has allocated more than $158 million to give victims a more effective voice in the criminal justice system through initiatives delivered by the Department of Justice Canada.
More information is available on the .
BACKGROUNDER
Child Advocacy Centres and Child and Youth Advocacy Centres
The Victims Fund provides grants and contributions to support projects and activities to help support victims of crime. More specifically, the fund promotes access to justice, improves the capacity of service providers, fosters the establishment of referral networks, and increases awareness of services available to victims of crime and their families.
Child Advocacy Centres (CACs) are child-focused centres that provide a coordinated approach to investigation, intervention, treatment and prosecution, in child abuse cases. They adopt a seamless and collaborative approach to addressing the needs of child and youth victims or witnesses of abuse to minimize system-induced trauma by providing a child-friendly setting for young victims and their families. Child and Youth Advocacy Centres (CYACs) offer the same services as CACs, but to a broader age-range of victims. Both CACs and CYACs receive funding under the CAC portion of the Victims Fund.
Child Advocacy Centres bring together a multidisciplinary team of police, child protection, medical services, mental health services, victim services, and prosecutors in a child-friendly environment. Professional services offered by CACs include coordinated forensic interviews; examination of the child by a medical professional; victim advocacy, including court preparation and support; trauma assessment; and counselling.
CACs help children and their families navigate the justice system in a number of ways. For example, CACs provide a child or youth with a safe and comfortable environment in which to be interviewed by criminal justice professionals, and they seek to reduce the number of interviews and questions directed at a child. CACs may also provide education and training to justice professionals on best practices for interviewing child victims and witnesses. Ultimately, CACs lead to better communication between agencies supporting young victims and to increased access to services for young victims and their families or caregivers.
It has been shown that investigations conducted by CACs are cost-effective and can expedite decision making by Crown prosecutors laying criminal charges. Parents whose children receive services from CACs are more satisfied with the investigation process and interview procedures, and those children who attend CACs are more likely to say that they were not scared during the forensic interviewing process.
Since 2010, the Government of Canada has allocated a total of $10.3 million to new or enhanced CACs and CYACs. In Economic Action Plan 2015, the Government committed to providing additional funding to CACs and CYACs. It will provide $5.25 million over four years starting in 2016-17, along with $2.1 million on an annual basis thereafter, to make the support and services provided by CACs and CYACs more accessible in communities across the country.
CACs and CYACs that have benefited from Government of Canada funding, either directly or through funding provided to one of their partners, include the following:
Contacts:
Clarissa Lamb
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Justice
613-992-4621
Media Relations Office
Department of Justice
613-957-4207
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Datum: 09.07.2015 - 22:30 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 405918
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