Project Harmony (www.projectharmony.com) is leading the way for all Child Advocacy Centers (CAC) across the country with strong multidisciplinary teams. The coordination and success of these teams is a model other states are actively seeking out. Gene Klein, Project Harmony Executive Director, was invited to speak to the New York State Child Death Review Team on September 22, after New York State representatives heard him speak in Dallas a few weeks prior on the level of engagement and collaboration established among the multidisciplinary teams at Project Harmony.
Project Harmony is home to 13 multidisciplinary child abuse/neglect investigative and treatment review teams consisting of law enforcement, prosecution (state, city, and county), social services, medical and referral professionals. Last year Project Harmony provided services to 2,500 children and by the end of this year it’s predicted that 3,500 children will need their services.
Founded in 1996, Project Harmony was the first Child Advocacy Center in the state of Nebraska and one of 32 in the country. Today, there are seven Child Advocacy Centers in the state and 850 centers throughout the country serving 350,000 children collectively each year. Project Harmony is now one of the largest Child Advocacy Centers in the nation. This is not due to an overwhelming volume of child abuse, but due to the level of collaboration that comes together to address the issue – collectively.