NCJ Number
232126
Editor(s)
Leiana Kinnicutt
Date Published
October 2006
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This report provides information on current practices available to communities to respond to the needs of families in the child welfare system that are experiencing domestic violence.
Abstract
This report presents the results of focus groups that were conducted with the administrators, team decision meeting facilitators, front line staff, domestic violence programs, State coalitions and lawyers, foster care recruiters, trainers, liaisons, community residents and parents in five Family to Family sites - Detroit, MI; Colorado Springs, CO; Cleveland, OH: and San Jose and San Francisco, CA. The Family to Family initiative provides resources to communities to address the problem of domestic violence in families in the child welfare system. The aims of the initiative include: to reduce the number of children in institutional care, to shift resources from institutional care to family-centered services, to increase the reunification of families, and to decrease the number of children served away from their families. This report is divided into four sections: Section I gives an Introduction; Section II examines the context for domestic violence practice within the Family to Family initiative; Section III describes the methodology and general findings of the focus groups; and Section IV examines domestic violence practice within the Family to Family core strategies of team decisionmaking, using data to guide policy and practice, the recruitment, training, and support of resource families, and building community partnerships.