CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY

Our Child Advocacy Center is the first established in New Hampshire.  The Child Advocacy Center now provides child friendly forums for multidisciplinary interviews at sites in both Portsmouth and Derry.  The Child Advocacy Center was Rockingham County’s response to the legislature’s mandate that agencies investigating child abuse work cooperatively to minimize the impact on the child.  A second Child Advocacy Center site located in Derry was opened in 2003.

The Child Advocacy Center is a non-profit entity that is staffed and funded through grants and fundraising efforts.  The County Attorney is on the board of directors and has representatives on the advisory board of the Child Advocacy Center. The model has been so successful that a legislative committee has recommended that our model be implemented statewide.  The Governor and Attorney General have supported this model and have made matching funds available to enable the other counties to establish Child Advocacy Centers of their own. 

Prosecutors attended 184 interviews at the Child Advocacy Center in 2007.  The process is time consuming for the attorneys, but is critical to successful resolutions to these types of cases. As the Court docket becomes more demanding, it will be difficult to keep pace with covering these interviews.  In many of the jurisdictions across the country, prosecutors are rotated through full time assignments at their Child Advocacy Centers.  Proper coverage for the Child Advocacy Center will be essential for continued success.

MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES

"War on Drugs Shows Some Successes"

"Misconceptions about 1st time Drunk Driving Offenders"

FUTURE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The availability of the internet has provided a new forum for certain criminals and predators.  The laws to provide appropriate protections are slowly catching up to meet the threats.  Investigating and prosecuting these technology-assisted crimes present new challenges for law enforcement and prosecution.  The types of cases that have reached into our communities include a new way to violate a protective order with relative anonymity, cyber stalking, child pornography, solicitation, and identity theft. Information management will be critical for future law enforcement successes.  Keeping pace with developments in computer power, software and access will be an essential expense.