ACCARDV 2025 Annual Report

The Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape, and Domestic Violence (ACCARDV) was established in 1991 to enhance the coordinated approach in providing services to victims of child abuse, rape, and domestic violence.

Today the mission of ACCARDV is to enhance investigation, prosecution, treatment, support, and prevention in cases of child abuse, rape, human trafficking, and domestic violence. ACCARDV fulfills this mission through a collective impact approach consisting of two arms that work together to enhance victim services around the state. There are 22 Commissioners appointed by the Governor who serve as an advisory council and representatives of their communities and interests surrounding violence and abuse. Many Commissioners appointed by the Governor represent membership designation positions statutorily required to receive the federal Children’s Justice Act Grant, which requires no matching funds from the state. The Commissioners work in the one of the three areas of focus or have experience with one or more issues pertaining to child abuse, sexual assault, or domestic violence.  They convene three times per year to discuss the Commission goals, projects, and strategies to help the people of Arkansas.

ACCARDV Project Coordinators carry out the projects and work-plans of the Commission by leading work groups, obtaining and administering funding, analyzing gaps and barriers, advocating for individuals, identifying needed access, looking for policy and funding solutions, and bringing together advocates and service providers to develop solutions. ACCARDV staff members work closely with other state level service-providers and collaborate with Commissioners to ensure that all areas of the continuum are being met across each of the Commission’s focus areas. ACCARDV is housed within the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) which allows for integration and the support of other departments and colleges.

ACCARDV does not provide any direct victim services which allows us the ability to be unbiased in our assessments, reviews, and funding of direct service programs. We have lowered our overhead costs and streamlined our staffing needs over the last few years to allow more of our funding to go out to the agencies and service providers that are on the frontlines. ACCARDV staff utilizes a wealth of experience and expertise to oversee programs, ensuring they best serve survivors of abuse. Currently, 83% of our budget goes to direct victim service providers.

Sexual Assault Prevention Division

Rape Prevention Education Grants

2025 proved to largely be a year of growth and success for sexual assault prevention at the Commission. Our Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Grant recipients – UA Partners, Southwest Arkansas Crisis and Resource Center, and Ozark Rape Crisis – took great strides in moving toward community-oriented prevention efforts and have begun several exciting and impactful projects.

When we use the term “community-oriented,” we’re referring to the Socio-Ecological Model (Fig. 1) – a way of organizing our thinking in regards to the scale of the impact we hope to have with our prevention efforts. While previous efforts in the RPE grant have focused on the individual and relationship levels – aiming to change ideas and beliefs about sexual violence, as well as addressing peer and family relationships – community level efforts focus on the context of sexual violence, particularly factors that either increase the likelihood that someone would perpetrate sexual violence or those that decrease that likelihood. Because these influences are part of the underlying issues of sexual violence – namely an individual’s motivation to harm others and the societal acceptance of that harm – they are relatively wide-ranging. Risks include factors such as a lack of economic opportunity, low community cohesion, food insecurity, housing insecurity, and social/cultural norms that support aggressive or abusive behaviors. Protective factors – influences that decrease the likelihood of perpetration – include emotional connectedness, supportive family structures, and empathy. With that in mind, we have encouraged our grant recipients to take on activities and efforts addressing these underlying factors.

• Southwest continued their work in expanding adoption of Blessing Boxes in their service area. For those new to these RPE efforts, Blessing Boxes are previously unused or abandoned newspaper boxes or vending machines that have been repaired, repainted, and filled with nonperishable food items, hygiene products, and other necessities for community members in need. Southwest recruits businesses and organizations to “adopt” a Blessing Box in order to keep them stocked and maintained. The number of Blessing Boxes has grown to over 73 in the area, more than doubling the number of boxes at the beginning of the year. Southwest also continues their work with local schools, at-risk youth groups, and local companies to further prevention education and promote healthy lives and workplaces.
• Ozark Rape Crisis completed their needs assessment efforts to discover more about housing instability in their communities and have learned vital information about the lack of housing affordability, residents’ beliefs about the safety of their housing, and pain points for securing housing, including the use of HUD vouchers. Ozark has begun presenting these findings to local leaders and policymakers in an effort to recruit influential community members to remedy these pressing issues. I had the pleasure of attending one of the roundtable discussions Ozark hosted, and the interest and will to address the issues Ozark discovered is very much present. Ozark has, like Southwest, continued, and even expanded, their prevention education efforts, even going so far as appearing on local radio to inform residents about their goals and efforts. In fact, their appearance was so successful and well-received that they were asked to return.
• UA Partners fully embraced community-level approaches, engaging their Disability Task Force to generate ideas to promote safer, more inclusive communities for people with disabilities. Inspired by Southwest’s Blessing Boxes, Partners has plans to place five boxes, stocked with nonperishable foods, across the state. They have also created sensory kits, complete with items to help make organizations, agencies, community partners, and businesses more welcoming and accessible for people with disabilities. These kits will be distributed in January 2026. Partners has begun to engage the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock to place truncated domes, a necessary textured warning system for pedestrians to safely navigate cities when moving from a sidewalk to a street or parking lot. On top of this, Partners began training hotel leadership and staff at select hotels to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities. Finally, Partners continued their “Allies” series of trainings, an important educational piece about how to best support people with disabilities and advocate with them.

The RPE program is performing phenomenally well. We are overwhelmingly pleased with the initiatives taken on by our sub-recipients, particularly because these activities mark a significant paradigm shift in prevention efforts. That these organizations have taken on such ambitious projects is commendable. When one considers that they have taken on such efforts after a two-month delay in funding is astoundingly impressive.

Preventative Health and Health Services Block Grant

Programming under the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant continues apace. Our activities under this grant are split into two broad categories: supporting services for survivors of sexual assault – by providing education for victim service providers and clinicians and increasing awareness of sexual assault statistics and resources for survivors – and supporting and improving public health infrastructure. By and large, our efforts under this grant showed continued growth and promise. We took opportunities this year to try new formats, activities, and partnerships.

• Sexual Assault Hospital Protocol Conference
  • This year, the Sexual Assault Hospital Protocol Conference was reformatted to renew enthusiasm, reach new attendees, and try out different topics from what has been presented in the past. Specifically, the conference was shortened from three days to two, and each day had only one set of presenters – day one featured Dr. Sufna John and Dr. Allison Smith from ARBEST presenting the Components for Enhancing Career Experience and Reducing Trauma (CE-CERT) training, and day two featured Aubrey Sampson, a former STOP program coordinator, and Jess Ritter, from Safe Kids Pennsylvania, presenting strategies for cross-collaboration and community engagement. The new format was effective. The conference had 52 attendees, and the audience was remarkably engaged. Evaluations for the conference were overwhelmingly positive, as well. In 2026, Commission staff will build upon the success of this conference while also incorporating educational sessions from previous iterations of the Protocol Conference.
• Connect & Learn Regional Mini-Conferences
  • We continued hosting our Connect & Learn sessions throughout the state, with 74 attendees across 10 sessions. We value hosting and planning these events because they give us an opportunity to reach a wide variety of victim service providers in their communities, provide information specific to their needs and interests, and work with nontraditional presenters. This year, we hosted sessions on topics including but not limited to human trafficking, youth engagement, fundraising, PTSD and veterans, burnout reduction, victims’ rights, and mandated reporting. This year, we received even more positive feedback than last year, and we are very excited to host more in the coming year.
• Other Trainings
  • Our training efforts didn’t stop there! We also hosted trainings for our RPE sub-grantees and other prevention professionals that were genuinely illuminating and practical. First, we worked with Cierra Olivia Thomas Williams of the Nothing Without Us Collective to host a training about the Socio-Ecological Model, changing how we view the model, and re-orienting our approach to prevention. This was a training that is nearly essential for anyone working in prevention because it shows how much a shift in perspective – and thus prevention efforts – can impact a significantly large number of people. It emphasizes viewing prevention through a wider lens, instead of fixating on individual behaviors and beliefs that, while still important, can lead to a failure to address the true causes of public health issues. It brings to mind one of the earliest stories in the history of public health: amidst a cholera outbreak in 1850s London, a physician named John Snow discovered that cases of cholera higher in a neighborhood that used a specific water pump – the water drawn from that pump was contaminated. Rather than removing the source of contamination and creating a clean, safe source of drinking water, Snow removed the pump handle – removing residents’ ability to draw water from the pump – and cases of cholera decreased in this area. We can still have an impact when addressing individual behavior, perhaps even slowing down the immediate issue. However, if we work to remedy the underlying issues creating the overarching problem, we can have a wider impact. As is probably apparent, we will certainly look for more chances to work with Cierra next year.
  • We also provided a training from Catharsis Productions on Technology-Facilitated Sexual Assault. Commission staff recommends this training be required learning for professionals in our field. As technology rapidly advances, and new forms of technology are developed – such as generative AI – new avenues to create harm are, unfortunately, created. Providers, law enforcement, and prevention professionals must be aware of how these technologies can create harm to better serve their clients. When Arkansans are inevitably harmed by these technologies, professionals in our state need to be able to respond appropriately, and one step on that path is gaining a better understanding of the harms that technology can enable. Catharsis Productions was a productive collaboration, and the material was a revealing look into the challenges technology presents to our field. ACCARDV anticipates a continued partnership with Catharsis Productions.
• The Block Grant was utilized for many additional activities. ACCARDV provided six scholarships to nurses for conference attendance or SANE certification training and testing fees, a new record for number of scholarships. ACCARDV continued to supply the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory with their annual order of 1,000 sexual assault evidence collection kits. ACCARDV facilitated the distribution of 26,136 educational and awareness materials, a nearly tenfold increase from last year, largely enabled by a partnership with the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence and an internally-produced awareness pamphlet (available in English or Spanish) put together by staff intern, Subrato Johnson. If you would like educational or awareness materials, please contact Sam Siegel.
• Commission staff continues to use Block Grant funds to support and partner with organizations within UAMS, as well. The clinical skills labs provided by UAMS TeleSANE continued, and even expanded this year. They were able to provide over twice as many trainings as last year to over 52 nurses across the state, improving access to skilled nurses for those seeking care after a sexual assault. Our one-year partnership with Pathways also proved fruitful. Across three of their AR Health Data Scholars’ Summer Bootcamps – held in Springdale/Fayetteville, Little Rock, and Pine Bluff – Pathways introduced 67 high school scholars to public health data analysis while they explored data from the Arkansas Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Scholars utilized computational tools to visualize and interpret data, and the bootcamp culminated with a competitive showcase judged by volunteers and community partners.

Committee on Rape and Sexual Assault Prevention

Through the Committee, we were able to update the Sexual Assault Response Guide and its associated website. We are also currently in the process of facilitating a workgroup to update the State Crime Lab’s rape kit tracking website. If you are interested in joining this workgroup, or wish to work with us to form another, please email Sam Siegel.

The Sexual Assault Prevention Division was very productive in 2025 and plans to build on these successes in 2026. Ideally, next year will bring opportunities for strengthening existing partnerships, forming new ones, and expanding our educational efforts and the reach of our programs.

Child Welfare Division

Victim Service Support

Child Abuse and Neglect (CAN) Prevention Grants

CAN Prevention grants funded the following ten programs during SFY 2025. Statistics included reflect this period of July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2025.

• The Arkansas Building Effective Services for Trauma (ARBEST) program, received funds to support a novel collaboration between it and statewide Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) programs, whose volunteers work directly with children who are in foster care and are at increased risk of abuse and neglect. This collaboration allowed ARBEST to develop a comprehensive training and support system to help CASA volunteers combat secondary traumatic stress and burnout. ARBEST developed 6 trainings to increase their ability to advocate for and support protective factors in the various caregiver-child relationships for children in foster care. ARBEST provided this training for 230 CASA volunteers and staff. ARBEST also provided training to reduce secondary traumatic stress and burnout. This 2 day in-person training was provided to 51 attendees. Additional follow up training was provided to 19 supervisors to better understand how to use the skills to support CASA volunteers.
• Arkansas Children’s received funding for an initiative to support admitted patients who are victims of physical or sexual abuse or other forms of maltreatment, and provide education, support and referrals for other families with long-term admissions. It also educated parents about infant health, safe sleep practices, shaken baby syndrome, home safety and hot car danger, and is expanding to the hospital’s northwest Arkansas campus in its second year. Continuing Medical Education was provided to 81 medical professionals and is now available on the online learning platform. 150 children’s body image books were distributed, and 25 parenting books were provided. A family resource day at the hospital was attended by 22 parents and caregivers.
• The Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence received funding to establish the Parent and Child Legal Aid Program (PCLAP) in three divisions of Pulaski County Circuit Court. The program has provided free legal representation to help domestic violence victims and their children obtain orders of protection. PCLAP has worked with the Pulaski County Circuit Court to streamline the process and allow e-filing for the petitions. During the first year of the program, 524 petitions were e-filed and 360 parents and children were provided representation in hearings.
• Carter’s Crew, a nonprofit serving youths ages 12-17 and their parents in central Arkansas, received funds to add parenting classes, peer-to-peer support groups, family nights, career readiness workshops, reading and financial literacy programs, intensive case management and access to food and clothing pantries.
• The Center for Arkansas Legal Services (CALS) received funds to continue a program that assesses helpline callers so the group can provide more legal representation to families at risk for child abuse. The money also funded monthly community help desks. A total of 199 cases were funded by the grant, with full representation being provided to 63 clients and extended services going to 39 clients. CALS also reached 578 clients through community help desks and community events.
• Community Connections, a nonprofit group that offers free extracurricular activities for children and young adults with disabilities and their families, received funding to add a full-time family and child abuse prevention coordinator and to expand services and events. Funding from this grant supported 668 families, 79 volunteers were trained, and a new parents’ support program was created in Little Rock. The family and community support program was expanded to include Fort Smith, Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas.
• Cooper-Anthony Mercy Children’s Advocacy Center in Hot Springs and Benton, which provides essential services to abused children, received funds to continue an elementary school program in Saline, Garland, Grant and Montgomery counties. The program uses the Monique Barr Foundation curriculum, which is designed to protect children from bullying, child abuse and exploitation. The program was provided to 1,052 classrooms reaching 19,834 students in 27 schools.
• Grandma’s House Children’s Advocacy Center, which provides a safe place for child abuse victims and their families in Baxter, Boone, Carroll, Madison, Marion, Newton and Searcy counties, was funded to partner with others in the community to provide prevention education to children, families and those who work with children. Safety education was provided to 2,107 children and 199 parents and caregivers.
• Hannah Pregnancy Resource Center in El Dorado received funds to provide a parenting and life-skills program for the 286 clients who visited the center, and a re-entry program for incarcerated parents which served 74 people during their incarceration. 
• White County Domestic Violence Prevention, which helps victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault, received funding to expand services for at-risk children and families in the community. The services include parenting classes for people facing custody issues or domestic violence charges or otherwise needing help rebuilding their families. Through this grant prevention education, direct support and resources were provided to 113 clients receiving 111 referrals for employments, housing, anger management, civil legal assistance, addiction/sobriety resources as well as other resources.

Education

ACCARDV is committed to the ongoing effort to increase the number of Arkansans who recognize and report maltreatment. Commission staff has been training mandated reporters for almost three decades. Well-trained frontline workers are better able to recognize and report suspected maltreatment. High turnover rates create a need for continual training at all professional levels of mandated reporters. ACCARDV continues to expand opportunities for mandated reporters and other participants to receive quality training by multiple delivery options. Offering online self-paced training, online live training and in-person training allows employers to determine what would work best for staff and volunteers.

Efforts to inform and educate communities about child abuse and neglect may reach the greatest number of participants when offered collaboratively. ACCARDV seeks partnerships with other stakeholders in the field to develop materials and training and will explore opportunities to co-sponsor conferences or training.

• Online Training Options
  • The Commission is involved in the provision of two online training options for mandated reporters. AR Mandated Reporter is available to everyone and the Arkansas Internet Delivered Education for Arkansas Schools (IDEAS) training is available directly to licensed educators through the IDEAS portal.
• AR Mandated Reporter
  • AR Mandated Reporter is funded by the Commission and available online to anyone who wishes to complete the module. The training includes a pre-test, a curriculum specific to Arkansas laws and policies, and a post-test. Participants may print or email a certificate of completion and the program is entirely self-paced. Participants may choose to complete the approximately 90-minute program over several sessions.
    Although there has been no legislation passed requiring more mandated reporters to receive training, the availability of this option has encouraged participation by employers, many of whom require employees or volunteers to provide a certificate of completion prior employment or active volunteer status. Financial accessibility also provides employers with incentive to require staff and volunteers to complete the training. Commission staff works with a collaborative work group of child welfare experts in Arkansas to update the training when needed.
    In 2025, a total of 10,018 individuals in Arkansas completed this free web-based training that will increase knowledge in identifying maltreatment, the legal requirements of mandated reporters and how to manage disclosures from victims.
• AR IDEAS
  • ACCARDV continues to have a partnership with Arkansas IDEAS to provide web-based mandated reporter training specifically to address legislation requiring licensed educators to receive training. Commission staff reviewed the script, animations, and test questions and recommended content experts to participate in a comment period, recommend edits and participate in filming of updated training modules.
    During 2025, a total of 25,114 school employees viewed the training, which will increase their ability to recognize and report suspected child maltreatment as well as understand their role as mandated reporters. Participants viewing this training are all mandated reporters in the education field.
• In-person training
  • ACCARDV conducted virtual and in-person training sessions for professionals mandated to report suspected maltreatment.             
    Commission staff provided training in accordance with Act 1236 of 2011, which requires licensed educators to receive professional development on specific child maltreatment topics. Eight training sessions were provided in person for 667 school staff and school resource officers. The officers were provided with the same training curriculum as licensed educators to maintain consistency within educational settings. This consistency better equips all school staff with the ability to offer assistance and support during disclosure, reporting and investigation.
    Commission staff provided training for other professionals working with children. Thirteen in person or virtual training sessions were provided to 309 individuals including: sexual assault and human trafficking program staff, domestic relations attorneys ad litem, staff of programs working with at-risk youth, mental health professionals, victim witness coordinators and other mandated reporters. Staff from the Central Arkansas Library System and the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance also requested and received training in 2025.

Cross-Discipline Collaboration

ACCARDV staff will attend meetings and workgroups with professionals in the child welfare field to review policy and procedure that may create barriers to functioning regarding investigative, administrative, and judicial handling of cases, as well as solicit input regarding potential reform initiatives to decrease additional trauma to child victims.

Participating in workgroups and meetings with frontline workers and other professionals in the child welfare field offers an invaluable perspective on policies and legislation. The involvement of Commission staff in work groups and meetings will provide opportunities to engage with other professionals to solicit input regarding potential barriers. Recommended changes coming from this process may contribute to potential state reform through the implementation of policies that improve the investigative, administrative, and judicial handling of cases or improve victim services and support.

Arkansas Infant and Child Death Review Panel (ICDR)

ACCARDV continues to have a professional partnership with the Arkansas Department of Health to support the Infant and Child Death Review (ICDR) Program in Arkansas.

ACCARDV co-sponsored the annual conference for members of local ICDR teams. Sixty-nine members of local ICDR teams and other related professionals attended the conference on April 3, 2025, to learn about opioid prevention and emerging trends with youth, child death assessments and investigations, and self-care for responding professionals facing vicarious trauma, as well as other related topics. This is the only statewide conference in Arkansas for front-line professionals involved in infant and child death investigation and case review.

Commission staff serves on the state ICDR Panel and participates in legislative presentations related to the ICDR Panel. This Panel was mandated legislatively in 2005 to be housed within the Commission.

Child Death in Arkansas Workgroup

In November of 2025, the Commission convened a workgroup to take a “big picture” view of what happens when a child dies; including legislative mandates, policies, the difference in what occurs if it is natural, accidental, child maltreatment, or other causes. There is no

document or resource that comprehensively answers the question “What happens when a child dies in Arkansas?” Governor-appointed commissioners and members of the Child Welfare Committee were invited to participate and recommend other participants. Once the work group has reached the initial goal of a resource that clarifies what occurs when a child dies in Arkansas, the work group will have the option to identify additional future goals or to conclude the work group.

Domestic Violence Prevention Programs

ACCARDV receives funding through the Domestic Peace Fund that allows for grants to be made to the domestic violence shelters across the state that are members of the Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ACADV). In conjunction with ACADV, the Commission distributes funding to the shelters that are in compliance with ACADV standards. There are currently twenty-three (23) shelters that are members of the ACADV. They are able to use the funds for any needs that their shelter may have, including but not limited to: salaries, shelter maintenance, utility bills, and transportation costs. This is a yearly grant that is available to all ACADV shelters that are in compliance.

The Domestic Peace Fund also allows ACCARDV to provide funding for a position at ACADV that monitors the shelters and their compliance with the ACADV standards. The Commission has a well-established working relationship with ACADV which creates an opportunity to make these programs as beneficial as possible for the shelters.

ACCADV has received funding to reimburse bed nights for 10 shelters in five regions across Arkansas from a block grant through DHS for many years. The SSBG block grant application process has been a competitive one in previous years, but in collaboration with DHS Division of Aging Adult and Behavioral Health Services and ACADV, the Commission developed a process that allows all DV shelters in good standing with ACADV to receive the funds on a revolving cycle every year. Two shelters from each of five regions receive the funding for one year. This grant allows the shelters to be reimbursed for adult bed nights. Funding allotments are based on the average bed nights in a region, and the new process allows access to the funds every year rather than every two years. Working with DHS and ACADV allowed us to improve the efficiency of the program and update how it is distributed in a manner that better serves the needs of the shelters and their clients.

Child Welfare Ombudsman Division

In July 2025, the CWO Division was moved to the Arkansas Department of the Inspector General (DIG) through legislation. Both the Director and Assistant Director were able to move to DIG due to funding from DHS and ACCARDV. Though the program has moved, ACCARDV continues to support the CWO through funding and programs that support them in their mission of improving the child welfare system in Arkansas. Though their physical location has changed, their commitment to responding quickly and thoroughly to complaints and concerns brought to them from all parties involved in child welfare cases has not changed.

The CWO Division’s dedication to improving how children and families move through the child welfare system is seen in how they work diligently on individual cases across the state. They are statutorily allowed to accept referrals from any party connected to a child welfare case. Referrals come in from parents, grandparents, foster parents, attorneys, judges, therapist, and any number of other parties associated with a case. This provides them with a wide perspective on how cases are being handled across the state and the compilation of individual cases is where systemic problems are discovered. The CWO Division is responsible for the resolution of many issues for families and children facing the frustration and stress of the child welfare system. Without their hard work and dedication, many issues would not be addressed or resolved. The number of cases they have assisted with in the last five years has grown steadily with the CWO Division serving over 500 clients since opening its doors on January 11, 2021. ACCARDV looks forward to continued support of the CWO Division in years to come.