State Legislature Doubles Funding For Children's Advocacy Centers In Oklahoma

Children’s Advocacy Centers across Oklahoma will see their funding double next year because of an increase from the state legislature.

The funding will jump from $2.8 million to $5.6 million next year, and experts say this will help provide kids with the tools they need for their physical, emotional, and mental health.

Carrie Little, the Executive Director for the Children's Advocacy Centers of Oklahoma, says this funding is something they've been asking for for years.

"Ultimately, what this means is, our centers can further develop services,” said Little.

Some of the services Children’s Advocacy Centers provide are medical evaluations, case tracking, and child protection.

Little says the funding will help the CACs work together with law enforcement and DHS for these services, and it will actually save the state money.

"We're also interviewing a child ideally only one time at our Children’s Advocacy Centers, which also decreases (the) cost for the investigative team, and also decreases trauma for the child without the child having to tell their story over and over again," said Little.

Little says the work isn't over yet. 

Now, her team is working to get more CACs around the state, especially in rural counties.

"This funding can also be utilized by those teams who are also getting double what they would normally get to start to think about, do we want to now develop a Children’s Advocacy Center?” said Little.

She says this will take some of the stress off and allow the centers to start focusing on what they can do better.

"They can kind of relax a little bit, breathe a little bit, knowing that they are going to get this extra funding, and that will allow them to hopefully hire more staff, sustain their staff that they already have, and move forward into development phases,” said Little.

Little says she is thankful for the legislators this session who were able to increase their funding.

She says they have a full directory of the Oklahoma CACs on their website HERE.

To find them, click on “Directory” on the home page.

Little says their website is a place to learn about their work and find the closest CAC to them.