Choctaw Nation Ahni House

This program furthers the Department's mission by providing cooperative agreements for enhancement and expansion of Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs) to organizations that OJJDP designates. The purpose of this program is to increase the coverage and capacity of CAC services in American Indian/Alaska Native communities for child victims of abuse. Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) is a federally recognized tribe located in southeastern Oklahoma. With funding, CNO will maintain current services of providing medical forensic or sexual assault response team services for child victims and expand the treatment model to establish a tribal CAC, Ahni House. All project elements will be solidly based on culturally appropriate treatment services and best practices throughout the medical forensic examination process. This expansion will provide needed services to children in CNO’s 10.5-county tribal service area (TSA) who are impacted by violence, sexual assault, abuse, and maltreatment. Currently, child abuse response and service provision are inadequate in 7 of the 10.5 counties in CNO’s TSA (with 4 counties having limited or no forensic interviewing services or CAC). The proposed expansion will provide accessible and more culturally informed service options for child victims and their families. CNO’s Ahni House expansion will allow for forensic interviewing and child advocacy services to an estimated 500 child victims and their families, and will provide for an additional forensic interviewer and mobile home unit to set up as a tribal CAC. Ahni House staff will provide trauma-informed care, Child First forensic interviewing protocol, and victim advocacy, which will be used throughout all aspects of this project to support victims and provide critical services to those Native children and families impacted by sexual assault, violence, and child maltreatment in additional TSA counties. CA/NCF