Collaboration between child welfare agencies and domestic violence service providers: Relationship with child welfare policies and practices for addressing domestic violence

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine collaborative activities occurring between child welfare agencies and domestic violence service providers and to investigate whether there was a relationship between collaborative efforts and domestic violence policy and practice in child welfare agencies. Data were derived from the Children and Domestic Violence Services study, which obtained cross-sectional data from a large sample of child welfare agencies across the United States, and from the Greenbook evaluation, which conducted a longitudinal case study investigation of a federal initiative that provided support to several communities to establish collaborative mechanisms aimed at improving the effectiveness of child welfare policy related to domestic violence. Findings from the cross-sectional data revealed that in almost three-quarters of the communities, formal collaborative activities existed between child welfare and domestic violence agencies. However, the data did not demonstrate a relationship between these activities and child welfare policy and practice related to domestic violence. Longitudinal case study findings from the Greenbook evaluation did reveal some changes in child welfare policy and practice in association with the implementation of activities that increased collaboration between child welfare and domestic violence service providers. Improvements were found in child welfare agency screening and assessment, advocacy for adult domestic violence victims, and multidisciplinary approaches to case planning. The extent to which changes were observed varied across the sites, however, and appeared to be related to the specific planning approach undertaken in each community. Additional work is needed to identify optimal collaborative strategies to enhance domestic violence policy and practice and improve outcomes for families.

Introduction

The co-occurrence of domestic violence and child maltreatment is well documented, with the empirical literature suggesting that child maltreatment occurs in 30 to 60% of families who experience domestic violence (American Medical Association, 1995, American Psychological Association, 1996, Appel and Holden, 1998, Coohey and Braun, 1997, Edleson, 1999, Fantuzzo et al., 1991, Wolfe and Korsch, 1994). Organizations serving maltreated children and those serving battered women are increasingly recognizing the overlap of these two problems. Child welfare is the public agency charged with protecting children from abuse and neglect, ensuring those children's safety, providing foster care or other placements for children, and providing services to families and children to prevent or respond to child maltreatment. Domestic violence service providers are typically “grass roots” organizations committed to providing protection and services for women who have been victims of abuse by their partners. Despite the fact that both systems are committed to ending family violence, philosophical, organizational and historical differences have contributed to a lack of trust and collaboration between these two systems (American Public Human Services Association, 2001). Collaboration among child welfare, domestic violence service providers and other organizations that come into contact with families with co-occurring family violence is particularly important because no one organization has the resources to address all the family's needs (National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, 1999).

Increasingly, communities have undertaken collaborative efforts among child welfare agencies and domestic violence service providers to achieve a common goal of safety for all family members (Findlater & Kelly, 1999). Research on these collaborations suggest the importance of having a shared framework and a balanced approach to identify and address the impact that violence has on the family as a whole (Spears, 2000); a high-level of communication and coordination between child welfare agencies and domestic violence service providers (New York City Administration for Children's Services, 2003); and supportive leadership, trust across systems, recognition and understanding of common goals, and a willingness to change policy and practice (Spears, 2000). However, prior research efforts on this topic have generally been limited to single site studies and have been constrained by a lack of longitudinal data required to describe the process and outcomes associated with enhanced collaboration.

In response to the problems of co-occurring domestic violence and child maltreatment, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) led an effort that created policy and practice recommendations with a strong focus on improving collaboration among the systems that serve families who experience these co-occurring problems (NCJFCJ, 1999). These recommendations highlight the importance of cross-training efforts between child welfare and domestic violence agencies; child welfare screening for domestic violence during intake and assessment; safety planning efforts that are developed in collaboration with the adult victim and children; reviews of child welfare policies and procedures to increase safety for adult victims and children; cross-system collaboration in the form of joint trainings, co-locating staff, and multidisciplinary case conferencing; and domestic violence representation on councils and collaborations that make decisions affecting outcomes for children and families.

In this paper we report the findings of two in-depth investigations of collaborative activities between child welfare agencies and domestic violence service providers—both based on the NCJFCJ recommendations, more commonly known as The Greenbook (due to its green cover). The Children and Domestic Violence Services (CADVS) study (Smith et al., 2005) collected cross-sectional data on a large sample of communities across the United States to examine the formal collaboration of child welfare agencies with domestic violence service providers, as well as child welfare policies and practices specific to domestic violence, such as cross-training, screening and assessment for domestic violence, and implementation of other policies for working with families once domestic violence has been identified. The second project, the Greenbook Study, was a case study investigation of a federally-supported, five-year initiative providing support to several communities to establish collaborative mechanisms, under the hypothesis that such a collaborative approach would lead to (among other things) more effective child welfare agency policies related to domestic violence. Synthesizing the findings across these two projects, we first explore the cross-sectional association between community collaborative mechanisms and child welfare agency policies related to domestic violence. Second, we examine how child welfare agency policy and practice related to domestic violence might be further enhanced through a formal collaborative process supported by federal financing, training, technical assistance, and other support. The CADVS and Greenbook data will therefore be examined to determine:

  • 1.

    The extent to which formal collaborative mechanisms exist between child welfare agencies and domestic violence service providers,

  • 2.

    Whether there was an association between collaborative mechanisms and domestic violence policy and practice in local child welfare agencies, and, if so, what role collaborative efforts may have played in those policies and practices.

Section snippets

The CADVS Study

CADVS is a supplemental study of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), a national probability study of over 6000 children who came in contact with the child welfare system between October 1999 and December 2000. NSCAW used a stratified two-stage sampling procedure with the first stage involving the selection of Primary Sampling Units (PSUs), which were generally defined as geographic areas that encompass the population served by a single child welfare agency (typically

Results

Research question 1

To what extent do formal collaborative mechanisms exist between child welfare agencies and domestic violence service providers?

Key informants from child welfare agencies in 79 of the 92 CADVS PSUs (85.9%) provided information on local collaboration efforts related to addressing domestic violence. The 79 PSUs that participated in the study represented 752

Discussion

The data reported in this paper were collected from two federally-supported research projects that examined recommendations of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (1999) on collaborative approaches to improve child welfare agency identification of and response to families experiencing domestic violence. The CADVS study built on a nationally representative survey of child welfare agencies with additional data collection protocols and research questions informed by the

Acknowledgments

The Greenbook evaluation was supported by grant #2000-MU-MU-0014 awarded by the National Institute of Justice with funds and other support from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and the Administration for Children Youth and

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