NCJ Number
202599
Date Published
2002
Length
118 pages
Annotation
This document discusses strategies designed to prevent children’s exposure to violence, and to mitigate the damage suffered by those that are exposed.
Abstract
The strategies are organized according to disciplines that include law enforcement, health and social services, and school and community. As first responders, law enforcement officers have an impact on the health and welfare of children that experience violence. Some of the law enforcement strategies are law enforcement/mental health teams, law enforcement/school/community partnerships, law enforcement/domestic violence advocate teams, and offender-oriented interventions. Health care professionals and social service workers provide key physical and emotional care that can identify problems and intervene in the lives of children exposed to violence. Some of their strategies are crisis response teams, counseling services, family support services, home visitation, and training for professionals. Schools and community organizations are in a unique position to effect positive change in the area of children exposed to violence. Children spend a good portion of their day at school and involved with school activities. Community, businesses, and faith-based organizations involved with local schools and neighborhood families are a necessity to strong advocacy for violence prevention. Some of their strategies include family/school partnerships, parental education and involvement, school/community partnerships, and classroom-based curriculum. The San Francisco Safe Start project has created a single system to identify and serve children from infants to age 6, that are at risk of being, or that have been, witnesses to or victims of family and community violence. Virtually all of San Francisco’s major public youth-serving institutions collaborate on the Safe Start Initiative. The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors declared a policy of zero tolerance for domestic violence in 2000. They established a misdemeanor postconviction calendar, increased the number of sheriffs’ detectives to screen and investigate misdemeanor cases, created an Elder Abuse Prosecution Unit, and extended a Restraining Order Clinic pilot project. Appendix