KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON - Experts estimate that there is a 30-60% overlap between homes that experience child abuse and those that experience spousal abuse, but alliances between services providers have historically been weak or non-existent. An innovative Public Health program that forges connections between domestic violence service providers and the Child Protective Services system has achieved marked success in providing additional support to abused parents and children as well as to the overwhelmed staff who assist them.
This program, known as the Domestic Violence and Child Protective Services Collaboration Project was initiated in 1997 by a grant from the King County Department of Community and Human Services.
"Staff of CPS and Domestic Violence agencies have a moral, as well as legal, obligation to work collaboratively, given the strong association of child and spousal abuse", said Dr. Alonzo Plough, Director of Public Heath - Seattle & King County. "The DV & CPS Collaboration Project has increased the teamwork among agencies and, consequently, the quality and effectiveness of support for victims of abuse".
Initially, project staff conducted a needs assessment, detailing strengths, gaps and suggested interventions for improving collaboration between domestic violence service providers and the Child Protective Services system. Based upon these findings and subsequent recommendations, eleven staff from domestic violence agencies and CPS were appointed to serve as liaisons between the two systems. These liaisons meet monthly as a group, and facilitate communication and collaboration by serving as a resource to staff within their agency and staff from partner agencies. In addition, project staff established an Exchange Program in which individuals have an opportunity to shadow workers from other systems.
Project staff also assist victims of domestic violence and child abuse by helping those who serve them. The DV & CPS Collaboration Project's needs assessment showed that many service providers in this arena experience "secondary trauma" as a result of being continually exposed to violence (e.g., reading and writing reports about violence, seeing pictures of violence and people who have been abused, hearing their clients' stories, and witnessing some parents' seeming inability to care for their children).
These experiences sometimes have a profound effect on the provider's basic sense of identity and worldview. They can begin to feel hopeless themselves and can dread hearing one more violent story. These feelings can affect how people do their jobs and their sense of connection and well being in their own personal lives.
Particularly disturbing are the affects secondary trauma may have on the people who CPS and Domestic Violence workers are trying to help. According to the needs assessment: "Domestic violence programs, Child Protective Services offices, hospital emergency rooms, and school counseling offices are some of the places that women and children may feel most vulnerable and unable to make a decision on their own behalf, should the provider, counselor, or advocate no longer be in a position to think rationally about their client". Secondary trauma may be seen as a natural cost of working in a field where you are constantly inundated with violence. "What is of concern is how, if unaddressed, the costs can be damaging, dangerous, and even fatal".
The DV & CPS Collaboration Project has begun to offer peer consultation and support groups for victims of secondary trauma, and to advocate for regular work-related stress debriefing sessions. Initial response has been overwhelmingly positive with many staff finally feeling they have a safe place to talk and strategize about the very difficult, very intensive work that they do with families affected by child abuse and domestic violence.
