Project Grant H79SM091344

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Baystate Medical Center, Inc. $599,999 on September 30, 2026, to establish and operate the Child Advocacy Training and Support (CATS) Center, a SAMHSA National Treatment and Service Adaptation (TSA) regional category center under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532).

The CATS Center, housed at Baystate Family Advocacy Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, will deliver evidence-based training, consultation, and technical assistance to multidisciplinary team members across the 900-member national Children's Advocacy Center (CAC) network. Direct recipients of capacity-building supports include CAC multidisciplinary team members—forensic interviewers, mental health providers, medical professionals, law enforcement, child welfare personnel, and victim advocates. The center will strengthen workforce capacity through a national technical assistance infrastructure focused on trauma-informed service delivery and specialized tools and resources for children and families affected by child abuse, with priority focus on youth involved in commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking and those experiencing complex trauma.

The center targets children ages two through eighteen served through CAC systems who have experienced sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking, exposure to violence, and drug endangerment. Activities include refining and adapting evidence-based childhood trauma treatments and establishing sustainable national workforce capacity across the United States.

Performance period runs through September 29, 2031.