NCJ Number
234590
Date Published
2011
Length
101 pages
Annotation
This resource packet contains five related guides developed for relationship and marriage educators and program administrators to assist them in understanding and responding to domestic-violence issues that may arise within their programs.
Abstract
One guide - "Understanding Domestic Violence: Definitions, Scope, Impact and Response" - provides a working definition of domestic violence and an introduction to the network of domestic-violence services that has been built in the United States over the last 30 years. An overview of key research findings related to the scope of domestic violence and its impact on adults, teens, and children is also included. A second guide - "Building Effective Partnerships with Domestic Violence Programs" - describes some of the opportunities and challenges involved in building effective collaborations with the domestic-violence advocacy community, as well as suggestions for how to proceed. A third guide - "Developing Domestic Violence Protocols" - draws on lessons learned from working with many federally funded healthy-marriage programs and initiatives that were required by the Administration for Children and Families in developing site-specific protocols during 2004-2006. A domestic-violence protocol describes, in writing, a program's plan for identifying and resending to domestic violence. Key considerations in protocol development are outlined. A fourth guide - "Screening and Assessment for Domestic Violence: Attending to Safety and Culture" - describes what has been learned to date about how healthy-marriage-and-relationship (HMR) programs might best approach screening and assessment for domestic violence and provide opportunities for safe disclosure by victims. The fifth guide - "After Disclosure: Responding to Domestic Violence" - describes the types of disclosures that might occur and discusses the identification of community resources for referral, general principles for responding to disclosures, crisis response for victims in immediate danger, and responding to other disclosures of current or past abuse.