NCJ Number
199774
Date Published
February 2000
Length
39 pages
Annotation
This paper provides background information and a framework designed to assist domestic-violence workers in collaborating with child protection agencies to enhance their efforts to improve safety for women and their children who have been victimized by domestic violence.
Abstract
In discussing why domestic-violence workers and child-protection staff should work together to improve the safety of battered women and their children, this paper advises that this sharing of resources and expertise contributes to more effective safety assessments and interventions for both the mother and children. This cooperation includes the sharing of vital information about the differing laws that guide domestic-violence workers and child-protection caseworkers, the values and principles that guide their responses, and the tools and resources that are available in each system. For domestic-violence workers to collaborate effectively with child-protection workers, the latter must have a basic understanding of the effects of domestic violence on children. The harms that domestic violence can inflict on children include the observing of injuries to their mother from the violence, injuries inflicted on the children during a domestic violence incident, and direct abuse and neglect of the child. If domestic-violence workers and child-protection workers strengthen their knowledge and skills in assessing the risk of domestic violence to children, they will be better able to reduce the number of children and women who experience serious harm. One section of this paper describes how the child protection system works, with attention to how the child protection system originated, Federal statutes that guide child protection agencies, core values of the child protection system, and how cases move through a child protection agency. In discussing how domestic violence organizations and child protection agencies can collaborate, the paper first presents examples of current domestic violence/child protection services collaborations. This is followed by a statement of principles for domestic violence/child protection collaboration. The principles are as follows: the safety of children is the priority; child safety can often be improved by helping the mother to become safe and by supporting the mother's efforts to achieve safety; and safety for battered mothers and their children can be supported by holding the batterer, not the adult victim, accountable for the domestic abuse. 22 notes and appended material on the responsibilities of caseworkers in the child protection process and preparing to work together