Children’s Advocacy Center of Delaware
The Children’s Advocacy Center of Delaware, Inc. (CACD) is a model of multidisciplinary cooperation and collaboration between community agencies and the hospital. The CACD provides the location and organization to allow comprehensive evaluation of suspected abuse and neglect. Dr. Allan DeJong, medical director of the Children at Risk Evaluation (CARE) Program, provides medical consultation to the CACD. A forensic interviewer conducts videotaped interviews with the children. These interviews can be viewed simultaneously by child protective services, law enforcement, and legal personnel via closed circuit television. Following these interviews, Dr. DeJong conducts physical examinations when needed. Consultation for hospitalized patients is also provided.
About 1,000 children are evaluated each year at the CACD. Two cases may help illustrate how this collaborative program combines healthcare and community service. The first case illustrates how the collaboration helped to prove that suspected abuse did not occur. The second case documents how the emergency, surgical, and critical care physicians prevented serious complications of abdominal injury (the second leading cause of death due to abuse), while the CACD helped identify the abuser and the mechanism of abuse. This assured protection of the child and lead to a shortened hospital stay.
Milford Location:
Children’s Advocacy Center of Delaware, Inc.
Milford Memorial Hospital
21 West Clarke Avenue
Grier Building, Third Floor
Milford, DE 19963
Phone: 302-430-5036
Fax: 302-430-5039
