The midwest childrens resource center at childrens minnesota will operate the midwestregional childrens advocacy center

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention awarded Children's Minnesota (doing business as Midwest Children's Resource Center) a $1.175 million Cooperative Agreement on October 1, 2025, under the Improving the Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse and the Regional and Local Children's Advocacy Centers program (CFDA 16.758).

Children's Minnesota operates the Midwest Regional Children's Advocacy Center, serving a twelve-state Midwest region. The center delivers coordinated, data-informed training and technical assistance to multidisciplinary teams, children's advocacy centers, and state chapter organizations to improve community response to child abuse. Key activities include medical preceptorships, peer review programs, strategic planning support, resource development, and train-the-trainer initiatives designed to equip professionals and strengthen investigative, prosecutorial, and therapeutic services for child victims and their families. The center emphasizes medical training to improve the availability and quality of medical services within multidisciplinary teams and children's advocacy center staff, and partners with state chapters to build their capacity to support local centers.

Work is performed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The period of performance runs from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026.

The centers mission is to improve the community response to child abuse through strategic leadership, collaboration, and capacity building, with the vision that children and families will have access to a strong team of highly qualified professionals to respond to and heal from child abuse. Serving the 12-state midwest region, the center provides coordinated, data-informed training and technical assistance to multidisciplinary teams, childrens advocacy centers, and state chapter organizations. Since first receiving victims of child abuse act funding in 1999, the center has developed and disseminated innovative programming regionally, nationally, and internationally. The center is committed to delivering affordable, accessible, and high-impact programming using the latest technology and research. The midwest regional childrens advocacy center will focus on the following: increasing the skills, knowledge, and peer support networks of multidisciplinary team members and childrens advocacy center staff, with special emphasis on employing the centers expertise in medical training to improve the availability and quality of medical services; partnering with state chapters to strengthen their capacity to support childrens advocacy centers and multidisciplinary teams; and enhancing national coordination through collaborative structures with victims of child abuse act partners. Key activities will include medical preceptorships, peer review programs, strategic planning support, resource development, and train-the-trainer initiatives. These efforts, coordinated with national partners, are designed to equip professionals and help communities improve investigative, prosecutorial, and therapeutic services for child victims and their families.