Guidelines for Building Partnerships That Protect Our Children

• NCJ Number: 202202
• Date Published: May 2003
• Length: 36 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP-Sponsored

Annotation

Guidelines are presented in the building of professional partnerships which respond to child abuse and neglect.

Abstract

In a follow-up to an International Association of Chiefs of Police summit held on child protection in 2001, which focused on building partnerships to protect children, reducing the incidence of, and responding effectively to child abuse and neglect, guidelines were developed for the building of partnerships that protect children. This report presents guidelines, supporting recommendations from the summit, containing practical guidance in two major areas: building professional partnerships to respond to child abuse and neglect and building community partnerships to prevent child abuse and neglect. In building professional partnerships there are nine steps: (1) define the issues; (2) identify and engage potential partners; (3) agree on a mission statement, goals, and objectives; (4) assess strengths and needs; (5) design a multi-disciplinary response model; (6) leverage and share resources; (7) build team capacity; (8) implement the multi-disciplinary response model; and (9) evaluate the impact of the multi-disciplinary response model. Building community partnerships to prevent child abuse and neglect involves promoting appropriate reports of suspected child abuse and neglect, increasing community awareness of child abuse and neglect, supporting the community’s prevention efforts, supporting the community’s early intervention efforts, and promoting legislative advocacy.