This webinar examines the National Children’s Alliance’s new standards for Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) and Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDTs) to determine which comes first, the child forensic interview or the medical-forensic examination. Special attention is paid to the new classification of disclosures of child sexual abuse as Emergency / Urgent / Non-urgent and best practices as defined by the Updated Guidelines for the Medical Assessment and Care of Children Who May Have Been Sexually Abused. The purpose and admissibility of statements made during the child forensic interview and during the medical forensic examination are also considered. 

About the presenter:
An experienced trial attorney and child advocate, Laurie Gray earned her B.A. from Goshen College and her J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law. As an attorney in private practice from 1993-2000, Laurie’s work included criminal defense and serving as court-appointed guardian ad litem in child welfare cases. As a Deputy Prosecutor in Allen County, Indiana, from 2000-2010, she primarily handled sexual assault cases (both adult and juvenile) and Drug Court. From 2010-2016, Laurie worked as an adjunct professor of criminal sciences at Indiana Tech and as a bilingual forensic interviewer at her local child advocacy center. Laurie co-wrote The ABC’s of Sexual Assault: Anatomy, “Bunk” and the Courtroom with Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Michelle Ditton.  In addition to writing, speaking, training and consulting, Laurie currently works as the Statewide Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Coordinator for the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault.