What dose "Balance Advance" Mean on a Home equity loan?

Long story short my dad was cheating on my mom for over 6 months until I caught him, Currently he is trying to make up with my mom. Today while i was helping with some bank statements I noticed that during those 6 months there was a bunch of Balance Advances on his loan that totaled up to $26,780. What dose this mean? Was he taking money out of the home loan?