Regional Work Group
The California Child Abduction Task Force (CATF) is developing the first Regional Work Group for the following five counties:
- Merced
- Fresno
- Madera
- Mariposa
- Stanislaus
The Regional Work Group will gather professionals from:
- Law Enforcement
- Mental Health
- Child Protective Services
- Prosecution
- Education
- Non-Profit Organizations
The main goals are to share information, distribute resources, and provide peer case reviews.
The Regional Work Group will collaborate in a multidisciplinary approach to reevaluate and redefine best practices to ensure abducted children's needs are effectively met.
Frequently Asked Questions
What specific outcomes are expected from the group?
- To build multidisciplinary partnerships within the targeted counties.
- To create relationships within different organizations so that they may communicate more effectively when working on missing/abducted child cases.
- To create an up-to-date networking contact list that the regional working group can use to call upon local resources when working a missing/abducted child case.
Each agency is expected to:
- Provide support and resources to the working group.
- Educate other agencies about the resources and support that their agencies can provide during a missing/abducted child investigation in order to mitigate tension due to misunderstanding/misinformation.
What do the “group projects” consist of?
The Regional Work Group will share information, distribute resources, and provide peer case review. In conjunction with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), California Child Abduction Task Force (CATF), and CIR, Inc., the work groups will hold specialized trainings designed to address the needs of the work group.
What is the time commitment for participants?
The time commitment will be to meet virtually for 2 hours up to 3 times a year, and an in-person meeting in one of the identified counties for a 6-hour workshop.
What are the agenda and topics?
The CATF will use information collected from the virtual group meetings to create an agenda based on the needs that the group identifies. They will survey the group for current resources being used, lack of resources in their area, and will discuss best practices in each county and each agency (i.e. local LE, CPS, DA, Schools, non-profits, etc.)
What type of data is each agency required to share?
No specific data is required. We would like input from each agency’s representative(s) based on their experience working on missing/abducted child cases.
Is there a long-term commitment for this working group?
We ask that the work group representative stay in the work group for at least one year. The goal is to create a Regional Work Group that will meet regularly to develop relationships and to support each other as they continue to investigate missing/abducted child cases. Our hope is that the members of the Regional Work Group will find value in the support of their neighboring peers and will continue to meet without the support of the CATF. While we don’t expect the original working group members to stay the same, we hope new members will take their place over time.
