Child Advocacy Centers, Child Medical Evaluations, and Multidisciplinary Team Information Sharing: New Law Goes into Effect on July 1

Across North Carolina, there are 55 child advocacy centers (CACs) providing services to children who have experienced maltreatment, including physical or sexual abuse. County departments of social services and local law enforcement agencies often coordinate with CACs to conduct child medical evaluations and forensic interviews in investigations of child maltreatment. On July 1, 2024, a new law goes into effect that regulates CACs, creates new mandatory multidisciplinary teams involving CACs (with statutorily prescribed membership requirements), authorizes information sharing between members of a CAC multidisciplinary team, and provides new confidentiality protections for a child’s CAC records and information. Read on to learn more about how Session Law 2023-96 affects cases referred to a CAC by departments of social services or law enforcement agencies.

The New Statutory Structure

S.L. 2023-96 adds a new Article 3A (“Child Advocacy Centers”) to Chapter 108A of the General Statutes. The statutory citations included in the new Article 3A of S.L. 2023-96 were changed when Article 3A was codified. The correct statutory citations are identified in this post.

Definitions and New Standards for Child Advocacy Centers

Article 3A begins with a lengthy new set of definitions that apply throughout the Article, including but not limited to definitions of key terms like child, child maltreatment, child medical evaluation, forensic interview, law enforcement child medical evaluation, and multidisciplinary team.

Prior to the enactment of S.L. 2023-96, “child advocacy center” was not a term defined in state law. Under the new G.S. 108A-77.1(5), a “children’s advocacy center” is now defined as:

 “A child-focused, trauma-informed, facility-based program in good standing with Children’s Advocacy Centers of North Carolina, Inc., that assists in the coordination of the investigation of child maltreatment by promoting a coordinated, multidisciplinary response to cases of child maltreatment in which representatives from law enforcement, child protective services, prosecution, mental health, forensic interviewing, medical, or victim advocacy groups or disciplines collaborate regarding the investigation, prosecution, safety, treatment, and support services, including forensic interviews, medical examinations, mental health services, advocacy, consultation, and training, to be provided, directly or by formalized agreements, for children suspected to be victims of child maltreatment and their appropriate caregivers.”

The new law establishes requirements that a CAC must meet in order to receive state funds, federal funds administered or distributed by a state agency, or any other funds appropriated or allocated by the North Carolina General Assembly. Specifically, G.S. 108A-77.2 enumerates a list of 18 different requirements that a CAC must satisfy in order to receive such funding. The requirements include being in good standing with Children’s Advocacy Centers for North Carolina, the oversight and guidance organization for CACs operating within the state. A CAC that wants to maintain eligibility for state funding must also provide all services to a child client regardless of the child or child’s family’s ability to pay for those services. G.S. 108A-77.2 includes many other requirements for CACs related to training, referrals, service provision, governance, and case tracking that are beyond the scope of this post.