Never count CACs out. Despite the frustrating news in Congress at the end of 2024 for Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) and many types of victim service agencies, after the noise we collectively made for VOCA we are getting another critical shot. A new bill, the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act (CFVSA) 2.0, is a crucial step toward VOCA funding stability for years to come. Our champions in the House, Reps. Ann Wagner (MO), Nathaniel Moran (TX), Debbie Dingell (MI), Stephanie Bice (OK), and Jim Costa (CA) have introduced the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act, H.R. 909. The signature of every House Member matters to get House leadership to call a vote on this important bill.
These champions in Congress have introduced the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act, H.R. 909 in the House. NCA is on the Hill every day championing the CAC cause, and with the calls, emails, and visits from our nationwide advocacy network, we now stand at 127 bipartisan co-sponsors out of the 435 members of the House. What’s more, of the 210 co-sponsors of the bill in the last Congress, 182 were re-elected to the House in 2024, so many current supporters of CACs in Congress are potential supporters of this new bill.
Call, email, and call again: ask your one US Representative to sign on and become a House Co-Sponsor of the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act!
Contact National Children’s Alliance (NCA) Director of Government Affairs Denise Edwards at dedwards@nca-online.org.
Please check the current list of Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act co-sponsors here.
If your House member is on it, please send them an email or call thanking them for their support. It’s critical to build a relationship for the long haul, and your recognition of their support means everything.
If you don’t see their name, please keep calling and asking them to support H.R. 909.
Members of Congress pay attention to how many constituents care enough to contact them about an issue, so taking a few minutes to call or email your U.S. representative would be a huge help.
The 5 minutes you spend making this call and asking your colleagues, family and supporters to do the same can pay off in services to kids in months to come. And, we are asking you to post or repost; share, and tweet/retweet our social media posts on this effort.
Please ask your colleagues, MDT partners, fellow advocates and community members! We need every call!
“My name is [your name and location]. (I am a constituent of [name of official])/(my agency is located in [name of official]‘s district). Services to victims of child abuse–and other victims of crime–are facing devastating cuts due to the continued record low deposits into the Crime Victims Fund. Our Children’s Advocacy Center, [name of agency], is facing those cuts. But, the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act bill, H.R. 909, co-sponsored by Representatives Wagner, Moran, Dingell, Bice, Costa, and Schmidt, would give us a lifeline and help soften the impact while Congress works to find a permanent solution. We are asking [name of official] to sign onto Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act to become a co-sponsor. And, we appreciate all of [Name of official]‘s support for child abuse victims.”
If you have active relationships with your Representative or if their staff has more questions about the standalone CVF Stabilization Act before committing to sign on, share this basic information with them as well as the fact sheets below. This stand-alone bill amends the VOCA statute to add a new item under deposit collections into the CVF to now include non-taxpayer money collected from the False Claims Act.
This bill does 3 simple things:
For more than four decades and in nearly 1,000 communities nationwide, Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) have provided evidence-based, child-centered care for children victimized by abuse and their families. Yet when funding cuts and increased care costs collide with a burgeoning youth mental health crisis, this critical community resource is no longer guaranteed.
This brief, intended to educate lawmakers and other decisionmakers on the issue, can also help arm CAC advocates and supporters with the facts as they push for stable CVF funding and an end to CACs cutting services or even closing their doors.