Contact: Nathan Lederman 508-584-8120
PLYMOUTH – The Plymouth County Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) was recently awarded accreditation by National Children’s Alliance following an extensive application and site review process, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz has announced.
Our office’s CAC, located at 233 Water Street in Plymouth, has now been in use since September 2023 when it relocated from its original location in Brockton. This relatively new facility has afforded us the ability to integrate state-of-the-art technology to enhance the support we can provide to our victims and their families. Now in its third year, we are proud to have received reaccreditation from the National Children’s Alliance (NCA). This process included an on-site visit as well as all multidisciplinary team members at the CAC completing at least 14 hours of training to pass an optional Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) standard. A component of the CSEC optional standard is the requirement for a robust, comprehensive multidisciplinary team response protocol, which our CAC has had in place since 2017.
In 2025, the CAC served 734 victims and handled 201 CSEC cases — a 27 percent increase in CSEC cases from the year before.
“I am proud of our CAC for receiving its reaccreditation in 2025 and thank the National Children’s Alliance for its visit to our facility,” DA Cruz said. “The plaque we recently received commemorating our reaccreditation is a reminder of the positive impact our team can have on children and families in pain, and we are committed to serving our community in our shared fight against child abuse.”
Founded in 1990, National Children’s Alliance (NCA) is a national association and accrediting body that awards various levels of accreditation and membership to centers responding to allegations of child abusein ways that are effective and efficient, and put the needs of child victims of abuse first. Accreditation is the highest level of membership with NCA and denotes excellence in service provision. In 2014, the Plymouth County CAC first became fully accredited, and has been accredited each year since.
National Children’s Alliance awards Accredited Membershipbased on a CAC’s compliance with nine national standards of accreditation to ensure effective, efficient and consistent delivery of services to child abuse victims. According to these standards, Accredited Members must utilize a functioning and effective Multidisciplinary Team approach to work collaboratively in child abuse investigation, prosecution, and treatment. NCA also considers standards regarding a center’s forensic interviews, victim support and advocacy, medical evaluation, therapeutic intervention, and child-focused setting.
For more information about the Plymouth County Children’s Advocacy Center, please go to our website: CAC.PlymouthDA.com.