Profiles -- Training, Policy Development, Institutional Coordination, and Data Collection Activities

This page presents profiles of training, policy development, institutional coordination, and data collection activities.

Artemis Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence

Urban Justice Center

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Grantee Agency:  Artemis Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence
Collaborating Agencies:  Montgomery County Children's Services, YWCA Shelter and Housing Network
ACF/OCS Grant No.:  90-EV-0090; 90-EV-0058; 90-CP-0141
Project Period(s):  September 1994 through February 1998
Address:  310 West Monument Avenue, 3rd Floor, Dayton, OH 45402
Telephone:  (937) 461-5091
Contact(s):  Nancy Grigsby, Agency Director; Jennifer Ginsburg, Project Director
Telephone:  (937) 461-5091
Fax:  (937) 461-2852

Primary Reason(s) Applied for OCS' DV/CPS Collaboration Grant: This grant project was built upon earlier "systems change" work initially funded by United Way. As part of the systems change approach, various experts visited the county and met with different social service agencies. One of the experts from the Massachusetts Department of Social Services discussed the collaboration between domestic violence and child welfare systems. The relationship between the two systems in Montgomery County was extremely strained, and administrators had reached an agreement that something had to be done. The systems change experts believed training was the first activity to be implemented.

Grant Project Goals: The projects were guided by three overarching goals: to increase accurate identification of domestic violence in child protective services cases; to increase the safety of abused mothers and improve their ability to protect their children; and to develop and implement improved interagency coordination.

Implementation: In addition to training staff, sharing staff across agencies, reviewing child welfare cases in order to identify domestic violence, job shadowing, and circulating a quarterly newsletter on the topic of collaboration were all activities implemented during the three grant periods.

Domestic violence experts provided training on identification of domestic violence in child protective services. Three part-time domestic violence specialists were assigned to assist child protective services workers in identifying domestic violence cases and implementing a newly developed protocol. Administrators felt that having more than one domestic violence specialist at the child welfare agency was very helpful because the position was very isolating at the onset, and the worker needed others with whom to discuss issues and concerns.

In addition, domestic violence experts trained child welfare workers on legal remedies and counseling issues of abused mothers. The part-time domestic violence specialists were involved in case plans to impact both the mother's and child's safety, conduct limited crisis intervention, provide information and referrals on cases, and participate in weekly case meetings on families with both child abuse and domestic abuse. Cross-observation (job-shadowing) was also conducted with at least 30 workers between the three different collaborating agencies.

Staff from each agency participated in a curricula/protocol committee to review and develop a local protocol for all three agencies. After development of the protocol, additional training was provided to workers on use of the new protocol. Another important aspect of the grant projects has been annual data collection and case reviews. Each year of the project, approximately 100 child protective services cases were reviewed for evidence of domestic violence, whether the caseworker identified domestic violence, referrals made to address the domestic violence, and the percentage of referrals deemed "appropriate."

Another activity implemented during the grant periods was publication of a quarterly newsletter, The Coordinator. The newsletter provides up-to-date information about the project and information on how to sign up for job shadowing, national data on the overlap between domestic violence and child abuse, and other helpful information.

During the last cycle of the grant project, a domestic violence education group was established for child welfare clients who are also experiencing domestic violence. Administrators acknowledged that this group took a long time to become established, and the clients present different characteristics than clients served by domestic violence shelters. Administrators see a much higher percentage of women who were abused as children. In addition, administrators have discussed that the intervention with this group tends to be much more clinical and less advocacy oriented.

Lessons Learned and Impact on DV/CPS Relationship: Over the three grant periods, the child welfare agency, Artemis Center, and the YWCA shelter program undertook collaborative activities and have continued to do so. Continuing the systems change approach initiated, the cross-training of workers was the first step toward collaboration. Artemis administrators felt that outstationing domestic violence specialists at the child welfare agency was essential for the child welfare workers to "buy in" to the different approach, as well as providing front-line workers real assistance with these cases. In addition, job shadowing contributed practical lessons that were excellent follow-up to the training provided. Only through the job shadowing portion of training were individual workers provided with a real understanding of the types of issues the domestic violence workers confront on a daily basis and visa versa.

Ongoing Activities/Future Plans: Cross-training of workers has continued since the end of the project with county funding, specifically TANF funds. The part-time domestic violence specialists continue to be stationed at the child welfare agency, now have their own assigned office, and are part of the agency's e-mail system. One of the specialists continues to produce the quarterly newsletter that is circulated to staff in all three collaborating agencies. Job shadowing has also continued, though on a smaller scale.

The task force that developed the protocol continues to meet on a regular basis to discuss issues concerning collaboration. Annual data collection through case reviews will also continue. In addition, the domestic violence education/treatment group conducted for mothers mandated by child protective services will continue with a longer treatment period (6 weeks instead of 4 weeks). The domestic violence specialist who facilitates the group will provide feedback to the child protective services caseworkers on the mothers' treatment progress.

Primary Reason(s) Applied for OCS' DV/CPS Collaboration Grant: There was a 10-year history of domestic violence and child welfare communities working together. This was started as a result of a highly publicized child fatality in 1987 where domestic violence was also present. While child protective services and domestic violence staff were beginning to address the overlap between their client populations, preventive services program staff had not been included in these collaborative efforts even though they also served the same clients. The grant provided the opportunity to raise the awareness of preventive services program staff concerning domestic violence while educating staff on the dynamics of domestic violence and how to respond once it had been identified.

Grant Project Goals: A questionnaire to assess domestic violence in all new cases in 12 preventive service programs (a network of not-for-profit organizations contracted with city's child welfare agency to offer preventative services to families whose children are at risk of being removed by child protective services) throughout all five boroughs of New York City was to be developed and administered throughout the duration of cases. Inter-disciplinary training based on the findings of the questionnaire were to be conducted. The trainings would be three half-day sessions. Three additional large group trainings and as needed on-site trainings and case consultation would also be conducted throughout the project period. Quarterly meetings to assess the progress and to troubleshoot problems would be held. An evaluation of the use of the questionnaire, including both qualitative and quantitative analysis, would be conducted along with 30 interviews with staff and clients.

Implementation: Twenty-one preventive service programs participated in the project. One hundred and thirty staff were trained at six half-day sessions. All participating programs were required to implement the questionnaire. Monthly trainings were held to address domestic violence related issues. Individual case consultation by project staff occurred weekly (on average, on-site consultation occurred 2 to 3 times a week and phone consultations 4 times a week). A support group for preventive service program staff who were running domestic violence victim support groups was held weekly. Quarterly meetings of all programs involved in the project were held to assess progress and problems. Three all-day inter-disciplinary trainings for over 150 attendees were held. At each training, a panel of experts (domestic violence advocate, child welfare specialist, law enforcement representative, attorney, and judge) discussed the question, "How would you develop and implement a coordinated community response to domestic violence?" The afternoon session divided participants from the same geographical areas into groups to develop plans for their own agencies participation in a coordinated response to family violence. Over the course of the project, 540 completed questionnaires were collected.

Lessons Learned and Impact on DV/CPS Collaboration: Evaluation of the use of the questionnaire by the Columbia University School of Social Work found that the use of the questionnaire was essential in all cases, not just cases where domestic violence was suspected; the questionnaire needed to be incorporated into normal paperwork and not be too long nor complicated; client women are not offended and are often glad that questions concerning domestic violence are asked; and all workers believed that the main obstacles to providing effective assistance to families was the need for more training and the lack of specific services (shelters and batterer's programs). Suggestions that came out of the multi-disciplinary trainings were the addition of domestic violence specialist in each child protective services field office; more information sharing between law enforcement and child welfare; more education for judges on how to help battered women and children; and more services for both battered women and the abusing spouse.

Ongoing Activities/Future Plans: Additional funding from the city and private foundations will continue to expand project activities to 57 preventive services programs (out of a total of approximately 150 programs city-wide). The project activities are currently expanding throughout the entire New York City Child Welfare System. Data collection activities continue through the collection of questionnaires by the Columbia University School of Social Work. A domestic violence specialist has been assigned to the Manhattan Field Office. A 26-session training program for preventive service program staff to provide batterers' intervention treatment has been initiated, and two groups have been completed. Multi-disciplinary trainings continue.