Supporting Children Exposed to Violence Project

Through this new Strategies To Support Children Exposed to Violence Project, Safe Alliance, in partnership with a multi-disciplinary team of social services experts from Mecklenburg County (Department of Social Services, Community Support Services, and the District Attorney’s Office), Pat’s Place Child Advocacy Center, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, and Atrium Health’s Domestic Violence Healthcare Project, will implement a new project addressing childhood exposure to domestic violence through a structured childcare program at Safe Alliance’s Domestic Violence Shelter in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The project will serve families living at the Shelter – both victims of domestic violence and their dependent children who have witnessed violence. Specific activities supported by the proposed project will include: 1) hiring a Children’s Program Advocate and Childcare Relief Staff; 2) providing intensive training to all Children’s Program Staff in the Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE) model; 3) implementing the childcare program to provide children with access to evidence-based trauma intervention and prevention services while also giving parents time to heal and access community resources; and 4) observing and evaluating children and families to provide treatment recommendations and partner referrals. The goals of this project are to 1) strengthen the existing continuum of services available to child witnesses of domestic violence and their parents by implementing a trauma-informed, evidenced-based, two-generation model of care that ultimately reverses the effects of childhood exposure to violence; and 2) increase family engagement in wraparound support services available to parents and child witnesses residing within the Domestic Violence Shelter to ensure holistic care and healing. Ultimately, Safe Alliance hopes this project will help reverse the generational cycle of violence by directly helping developing children cope with trauma.