NCJ Number
166294
Date Published
1994
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This paper profiles State, local, and national initiatives that link responses to battered women and their children.
Abstract
The programs described meet several criteria; they acknowledge that one of the ways to protect children is to protect their mothers and that helping children is a vital support to mothers; each program also understands that domestic violence powerfully affects children, and it aims to assist families. Three programs are statewide initiatives in Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Michigan. They include a domestic violence unit of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services that has the goal of improving the child protection response to families experiencing domestic violence. The Hawaii Family Stress Center screens families for the risk of domestic violence and identifies those families that need help. The program in Michigan involves the coordination of services for domestic abuse victims and their children. Six programs described involve local initiatives and include a woman's shelter that has services for children of abused women, a program of advocacy for women and children in emergencies, a family violence outreach program, and a family violence and sexual assault unit. The national initiative described involves the development of a national curriculum on domestic violence for family preservation workers. The project's goal is to foster collaboration between the fields of domestic violence and family preservation and to provide training and assessment tools for family preservation workers on the identification and treatment of domestic violence. Program titles, addresses, and telephone and fax numbers are provided.