Guide
Family Advocacy Programs: Quick Summary
1. An incident of child abuse and neglect (whether involving a parent or a staff member or volunteer in a DoD-sponsored facility or activity) is reported to the Family Advocacy Program (FAP) and, based on the initial information available, Family Advocacy determines if the report meets the threshold for reasonable suspicion (reliable information that a reasonable, prudent person would rely on which makes it more likely than not that an incident of child abuse/neglect has occurred).
2. As applicable, FAP will notify the command of the alleged military offender, leadership of the DoD-sponsored facility or activity, and law enforcement (if not previously notified) of the report of child abuse and neglect.
3. FAP will notify the civilian child protection agency of all child abuse reports in accordance with memoranda of understanding for CONUS installations and status of forces agreements for OCONUS installations.
4. For those installations or locations without a FAP, the reporter should follow the Service and installation procedures for reporting child abuse and neglect.
5. A Family Advocacy clinician arranges to interview the parties involved and obtain relevant information from other sources, i.e. law enforcement, medical, legal, etc.
6. Primary focus of the initial assessment is for the safety of the child victim.
7. The Family Advocacy clinician gathers additional information in preparation for presentation to the Incident determination committee (IDC) during which other agencies involved also present information which the IDC considers in deciding if an incident meets or does not met the criteria for abuse or neglect.
8. For those incidents found to have met criteria for abuse or neglect involving a parent, FAP may develop an intervention plan.
9. For those incidents found to have met criteria for abuse or neglect involving a staff member or volunteer in a DoD-sponsored facility or activity, the leadership of the respective DoD-sponsored facility or activity consults with the servicing personnel and legal offices to determine a course of action.