MILITARY CHILDREN'S SIX FOUNDATION
Specialized Advocacy Services
The Military Children's Six Foundation advocacy services are tailored to address the concerns and influence outcomes, large and small, in order to best serve the needs, health, and welfare of military children. The scope of Military Children's Six Foundation advocacy services offers invaluable tools, resources, and the know-how to advocate for your child whether it's you doing the work or MC6F as an advocate.
The listed advocacy areas are where we want to begin to make the most impact to empower, inform, and influence the direction and outcomes for children. This list is not meant to limit our reach. Rather this list of advocacy service areas is to strike at the causes that all children the most. If there is an area where a substantial number of military children could use our help we've not identified please let us know and we will do what we can to make a difference there too.
The Military Children's Six Foundation Child Sexual Assault and Trauma Advocates are trained and certified in victim advocacy and crisis intervention, and litigation. Our advocate can also access resources to help in a child's mental health recovery. It is our hope that by providing children sexual assault victims with the means to overcome this health epidemic.
As survivors, children will become resilient, and awe-aspiring people who can do what they set out to do in life no matter the struggles along the way.
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Child Sexual Assault & Trauma
The rate of children experiencing sexual assault and trauma before they reach adulthood is alarming, making sexually based offenses one of the most common threats to a child's health.
The damage sexual assault can have on the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health of a child can lead to incalculable life consequences. And, it is imperative that child victims of sexual assault and trauma have the necessary resources, information, and support systems in place to help them heal and to move forward in life with their dignity intact
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Child Abuse & Neglect
Nearly 3 million cases of child abuse and neglect are reported each year and 1 million of these are substantiated. The trauma of child abuse and neglect leaves children mentally, physically, and emotionally scarred. For some children, the scars are short-lived. But for others, these scars will last a lifetime.
Children need people who are willing to stand in the gap and fight to defend and protect their rights to live a life free from harm and fear of harm.
Children also need someone in their corner who will work with them, their families, and agencies to blunt the epidemic of abuse and neglect to enable them to heal and live their best lives.
The Military Children's Six Foundation Child Abuse and Neglect Advocates are trained in child abuse prevention and crisis intervention.
As child abuse and neglect advocates, and attorneys, they bring their knowledge, skills, abilities, and resources to bear to keep children safe.
Ultimately, it is our goal to do what we can as an organization to help parents, caregivers, and all stakeholders to change and rethink disciplinary approaches and practices to ensure children are protected and have the opportunity to grow up in a healthy, happy, safe, and secure home environment.
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Each investigation of complex abuse will be different, according to the characteristics of each situation and the scale and complexity of the investigation. Each complex abuse investigation requires thorough planning, good inter-agency working, and attention to the welfare need of the child victims or adult survivors involved.
Complex abuse investigations can encompass three possible groups;
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reporting abuse on children (current);
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reporting of childhood abuse by adults; and
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reporting abuse on adults (current).
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Child Complex Investigation Services
Complex abuse is defined by Military Children's Six Foundation as “abuse involving one or more abusers and a number of related or non-related abused children and young people.
The abusers concerned may be acting in concert to abuse children, sometimes acting in isolation, or maybe using an institutional framework or position of authority to recruit children for abuse."
Some investigations become extremely complex because of the number of places and people involved, and the period of abuse. The complexity is heightened, as in historical cases, where the alleged victims are no longer living in the settings where the incidents occurred or where the alleged perpetrators are no longer linked to the setting or employment role.
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Children Legal Representation
Quality legal representation in court is an essential safeguard to ensure that pertinent information is conveyed to the court, all parties’ legal rights are well protected, and the wishes and needs of all parties are effectively voiced. In turn, this helps judges make the best, most informed decisions possible in every case.
However, parents facing the potential loss of their children in dependency courts across the country are not afforded the same universal right to counsel as defendants in criminal proceedings.
Access to representation for parents involved with the child welfare system who cannot afford to hire a private attorney varies from state to state — and the quality of that representation, when provided, varies even more.
High-quality Representation at the Military Children's Six Foundation Legal Services Unit.
Due to the unique and complex nature of dependency cases, interdisciplinary representation is considered to be the best way to deliver high-quality representation. MC6F Teams can commonly include attorneys, social workers, parents, mentors/advocates, but also may include professionals with expertise in substance abuse treatment or other legal matters affecting families, such as domestic violence, education, delinquency, employment, or housing concerns.
Sexual Abuse Awareness Training is key in equipping staff members and volunteers to better understand the risk of child sexual abuse. Typically, our beliefs are shaped by our personal experiences, the experiences of our friends and family, and the media. For most sexual abuse of children is not a reality they want to confront, so many choose to remain uninformed. Media coverage is incomplete, leaving individuals with an inaccurate picture of the scope, breadth, or shape of child sexual abuse. The Military Children's Six Foundation Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Training is a step towards protecting our greatest asset "our children."
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Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Training
Every program providing services to children desires to foster a safe, exciting environment where learning and enrichment can occur. When an effective Safety System and protocols are put into place, staff members and volunteers can focus on their core purpose, knowing precautions have been taken to prevent abuse and protect children in their care
Request an your organization training today.
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Legislations We Support
In 2000, Congress amended the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) of 1984 [34 U.S.C. § 20106] (Public Law 98–473) to include authorization for the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) to establish a federal program that would uniformly and equitably provide assistance to victims of designated terrorist acts for certain expenses, regardless of the victim’s legal state of residence.
To find out more about what legislation we support please follow this link here.
We support a meaningful and effective legislation and policy agenda that directly impacts the quality of life for our military and veteran communities and their children. The Military Children Six Foundation seeks to organize and work within various, nonpartisan coalitions, consisting of government agencies, and other veteran service organizations and groups to better the lives of the over 20 million American veterans, and their CHILDREN.
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Veteran Affairs
The Military Children's Six Foundation is proud to represent military children and work on promoting policy and legislation that provides for the overall mental and physical health and well-being of our ill, injured, and wounded veterans as well as for the veteran community at large. When it affects the adult family member, it affects the children.
We firmly believe that our veterans are our greatest national treasures and we work to ensure that they are treated as such. By having their children six. We call it Back 2 Back. If you have a background in veteran advocacy or would like to be a part of our organization that works to resolve the issues facing our veteran community email us at info@militarychildrensixfoundation.org.
Join our advocacy program and utilize your energy, skills, and talents to help advance veteran's, and military children's causes, please send an email to info@militarychildrensixfoundation.org and request additional information on our advocacy program.