This research-based demonstration initiative is a part of a national initiative to prevent and reduce the impact of family and community violence on young children, primarily from birth to six years of age. The Safe Start demonstration initiative program is intended to provide Federal funding for five and + years, conditioned on grantee performance and availability of future funds. Thereafter, the program should be sustained through local funding.
Throughout America, millions of children are exposed to violence at home, in their neighborhoods, and in their schools. Young children are particularly at risk of and affected by violence and exposure to violence. Children exposed to violence do not receive adequate intervention or treatment to address harmful aftereffects. Children exposed to violence either directly as victims or indirectly as witnesses are more likely to become violent themselves. There is a movement toward a coordinated system response to more effectively address these effects.
Safe Start seeks to create a comprehensive service delivery system by helping communities to expand existing partnerships among service providers in the fields of early childhood education/development, health, mental health, family support and strengthening, domestic violence, substance abuse prevention and treatment, crisis intervention, child welfare, law enforcement, courts, and legal services. This comprehensive service delivery system should improve access to, delivery of, and quality of services for young children at high risk of exposure to violence or who have been exposed to violence, along with their families, and their caregivers, at any point of entry into the system.
Safe Start demonstration sites have engaged in a nine-month planning process (Phase I of the initiative) and have provided a 5 Year Strategic Plan and an 18 Month Implementation Plan for review and approval to continue to Phase II of the project.
ca/ncf
