1. History

The National Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) developed victim service program standards in the mid l980’s, and has been committed to enhancing the victim assistance professional field for over 24 years. Victim service providers offer comprehensive services to crime victims from trauma response to court advocacy. These services include residential care, public education, crime scene assistance, crisis intervention, administrative leadership, volunteer management, and fund development. Marlene Young, Executive Director of NOVA observed that victim service practitioners should be perceived as having parallel status as other professional groups (given their extraordinary range of responsibilities). The victim assistance field is one of the very few (if only) professions which does not have concrete recognition for experience, education or conduct.

2. For whom is the certification designed?

Certification will be available to all eligible individuals regardless of their status as paid or unpaid staff, and regardless of their level of formal education. Victim services includes a broad range of disciplines such as child abuse, domestic violence, law enforcement advocacy, prosecutor based programs, child advocacy , trauma response, probation, parole and pardon services, corrections, sexual assault. Programs are sponsored by private-non profit organizations and local, state and federal governmental agencies.

Many victim assistance workers include volunteers, interns, survivors, caseworkers, administrative staff and social workers which may have limited or extensive formal education. CVAS is a designation which acknowledges the individual’s commitment to quality victim assistance, and recognizes those who specialize in victim services regardless of an individual’s level of formal education or existing credentials. The SC Victim Assistance Standards and Certification Board (SCVASCB) does not take the position that everyone must be certified, or that only Certified Victim Assistance Specialists provide quality service. This is an optional opportunity individuals may select to enhance their professional recognition as a crime victim assistance specialist.

3. Why Do Crime Victim Assistance Providers Need Certification?

• Practitioners should have appropriate and tangible recognition for the specialized work they perform, the level of training required for their service and the level of experience they have attained.
• Victim service practitioners and programs are competing for funding which require basic levels of service and accountability.
• Practitioners should be perceived as having equal status as allied professions and colleagues. (All other related professionals in social work, criminal justice, law enforcement, mental health, law, education, nursing, and medicine require a level of professional competency.)
• Victims and survivors expect a level of competency which would not further traumatize them. Survivors deserve a way to determine the qualifications of a caregiver.

4. Who developed the certification plan?

A multidisciplinary committee representing various victim serving programs and levels of experience met for the first time in May of l994 to determine basic training and professional development needs of South Carolina practitioners. The National Organization for Victim Assistance and the International Association of Trauma Counselors (now renamed the Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists), as well as several well developed education and certificate programs from Colorado, Florida, and California, offered resources and guidance to the committee. The Office of the Governor, Division of Victim Assistance was the catalyst for the Certification Committee which produced a formal Code of Conduct and a certification protocol requiring basic levels of experience, competency, conduct, and education for victim assistance staff.

5. What is the SC Victim Assistance Standards and Certification Board (SCVASCB)?

The SCVASCB is a private non profit 501-c-3 organization representing all disciplines of victim service providers. The mission of the SC Victim Assistance Standards and Certification Board is to establish, and promulgate standards, rules, policies and procedures, as well as to assist with and promote educational opportunities which would provide a specific victim assistance professional certification to individuals who assist and provide services to crime victims and their families.

 The SCVASCB assures certification applicants that quality control through minimal standards is administered by those who have experience in the field of victim assistance and have made the effort to establish victim assistance as a profession.

Seventeen board members representing most traditional victim service programs as well as nationally recognized victim assistance leadership serve as members of the SCVASCB. The board is a peer review board. Each member of the Board must become certified by submitting evidence of victim assistance training and experience.

6. How do I become certified?

Certification opportunities are available to all eligible individuals regardless of their salaried or unpaid status as staff, and without regard as to the level of formal education.

• The review process. Application for certification will be made to the Certification Board which will evaluate and review evidence and documentation submitted by applicants. Documentation submitted should include the completed Certification Application Kit, and $100 certification application fee.. The Committee will determine the eligibility of each applicant for certification and will make recommendations for acceptance.

7. The Application Process.

• An individual requests a Certification Kit application from the South Carolina Victim Assistance Standards and Certification Board (SCVASCB). The Certification Kit application fee is $10.
• The applicant completes the CVAS Certification Kit and returns it with proper documentation and a $100 certification fee to the SCVASCB.
• The individual’s application is reviewed by the Board which meets to review applications three times each year. The Board evaluates the evidence and documentation submitted. Applicants may present any past or current continuing education activities or academic courses which meet the general content area and course work requirements in the Certification Kit. Training and conference agendas, certificates, workshop outlines, continuing education certificates, and documentation of attendance of prior and current training and education can be used as evidence of training.
• The SCVASCB determines the eligibility of each applicant for certification and makes recommendation for approval or denial.

8. Recertification

Certified specialists must submit documentation of 30 hours of continuing education to the SCVASCB every three years.

• 25 hours of seminar, classroom, inservice, and/or conference training with 5 hours review of books, publications, audio tapes, video tapes, research papers, etc.
• 25 hours of seminar, classroom, inservice, and/or conference training with a Case Presentation before a panel of the SCVASCB. Case Presentation Value equals 5 hours.
• 30 hours of seminar, classroom, inservice, and/or conference training of elective courses.

9. Letters of Reference. The applicant will require two letters of reference from people who are aware of the applicant’s professional experience. The letters must explain the relationship between the applicant and the author of the letter and why the author believes the applicant is worthy of certification.