Institute for Family Centered Services (IFCS) and the SAFE Start Initiative

This project will help local communities implement collaborative cross-agency strategies for effectively reducing the impact of children's exposure to violence, with particular emphasis on young children (age 6 and younger) and their families. For the purposes of this project, exposure to violence includes both direct victimization (e.g., child abuse, neglect, or maltreatment) and indirect victimization (e.g., witnessing domestic violence or community violence). Millions of children in the United States are exposed to violence at home, in their neighborhood, and at school. The welfare of children exposed to violence has become a major concern for medical and health professionals, child protection and social services agencies, law enforcement, and juvenile justice agencies because these children often do not receive adequate intervention or treatment to address harmful aftereffects. Safe Start Promising Approaches is based on current research and knowledge in the field of exposure to violence. Project sites are committed to working cooperatively and collaboratively with OJJDP and other partners in a national effort to implement and evaluate the projects. Although current research is not conclusive about the incidence and prevalence of exposure to violence or the specific interventions that are most effective, much knowledge has been developed in the field during the past 10 years. Several promising approaches have emerged that highlight intervention strategies for developing critical partnerships among various agencies (e.g., law enforcement and mental health, mental health and child development, medical services and mental health, and domestic violence services, child protective services, and the courts). This project will incorporate these established strategies and promising approaches demonstrated through 15 project sites. ca/ncf