Children s Advocacy Centers (CACs) are non-profit agencies designed to coordinate multidisciplinary investigations of child abuse in a child-friendly environment. They are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the community response to child abuse victims and their families. The numbers of CACs have grown dramatically in the last twenty years: The first CAC was developed in 1985 and in 2005 over 500 CACs had been admitted as full or associate members of the National Children s Alliance (NCA), the CAC accrediting agency.