British Columbia Network of Child and Youth Advocacy Centres Society
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Mission Statement
We provide leadership, support, and advocacy to CYACs across the province in order to enhance system response to child abuse and improve long-term outcomes for children and youth.
About This Cause
The BC Network of Child and Youth Advocacy Centre’s mission is to collaborate to provide leadership for a strong, sustainable network of CYACs in BC to ensure a coordinated, trauma-informed, culturally-safe response to all forms of violence against children and youth. The BC Network has been active since the establishment of the Steering Committee in 2017, providing critical support for operational, in-development, and emerging child and youth advocacy centres across British Columbia. The provincial Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General held a grant from the federal Victims Fund to create and develop the Network and it was launched in 2018. With three years of funding from a community foundation, the BC Network hired a Coordinator and developed a strategic plan to formalize the Society, which was achieved in 2023. The BC Network has the continued backing of the provincial government to enhance the network, ensuring that every child in BC can access these services when needed. Ultimately, that is the organization’s goal: that every child in BC has access to the same coordinated response when they disclose abuse or violence. The BC Network leads a provincial cross-sector working group of government ministries with MPSSG, and through the work plan of that group, advocates for policy changes that support collaborative child abuse response models. The BC Network develops programming, training, and resources aimed at benefiting CYACs and the children they serve. Practical assistance is provided to communities in establishing partnership agreements and legal information-sharing protocols, as well as conducting workshops for multidisciplinary teams. Additionally, the BC Network develops communication strategies for CYACs. At the community level, CYACs offer a multidisciplinary response to child and youth victims of abuse, bringing together police, child protection, victim services, Indigenous organizations, school districts, health and mental health agencies, and other community supports to minimize system-induced trauma. These centres aim to lessen the re-victimization of children and youth by coordinating services, reducing the need for vulnerable victims to repeatedly recount their experiences, and ensuring a more compassionate and effective support system to address their trauma. With nine open centres and three nearing operational status, the BC Network is committed to bolstering the work of CYACs across the province and enhancing the overall system response to child abuse and sexual assault, thereby improving long-term outcomes for affected youth. The BC Network has a comprehensive strategic plan, updated in March 2025. The goals are aligned with the vision that all children in BC have access to a coordinated system response after abuse. The plan prioritizes items that are needed by all centres, so as to maximize efficiency in the production or acquisition of such resources. By centralizing efforts, CYACs are able to focus on serving the children of our communities with the support of the BC Network. The main pillars of the strategic plan are: • enhancing provincial support for CYACs through stakeholder relations, and advocacy for policy and legislation changes • strengthening membership support and network growth by providing practical assistance to developing and operational centres, and developing a provincial plan for site development • strengthening evaluation of services by providing data collection tools and an annual impact report, and participating in a national working group on data collection for CYACs • advancing best practices in service delivery through provision of training and skill development opportunities, leading sector-specific communities of practice, and a transformative reconciliation program. All work of the BC Network is centered on these pillars, to advance the coordination of response to child abuse in BC.