Commit to Antiracist Practice
Help Families with Actual Needs
Advance Legal/Policy Protections
Nurture Partnerships
Generate Relevant Research
Eliminate Incentives for Child Removal
Systems should create and engage in authentic partnerships with survivors and communities in investigations, interventions, services, and treatment to children and families who are exposed to or experiencing domestic violence (such as those in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Reauthorization Act of 2010 (CAPTA) (42 U.S.C.A. §5106(a). Traditional approaches to “partner” with survivors and culturally specific communities, often amount to little more than a feedback loop or referral network or struggle to foster genuine connections with superficial engagement and unaddressed power imbalances. The path to authentic collaboration requires a radical shift that ultimately paves the way for more equitable and impactful outcomes for all.
A Tool to Create Change
Get immediate access to a tool that will show the path to more authentic collaborations that lead to more equitable and impactful outcomes for survivors.
Strategies to counter these challenges can include:
Have systems critically examine how power is conceptualized, activated, and centralized in institutions, and confront the pervasive mechanisms that lead to the marginalization of survivors and BIPOC communities
- Initiate internal dialogues and workshops to explore power dynamics within child welfare systems and how they affect the experiences of survivors and marginalized communities
- Establish accountability mechanisms to address power imbalances and ensure that decision-making includes diverse perspectives, including those of survivors and community members
- Engage in ongoing self-assessment to identify and address implicit biases and systemic practices that perpetuate marginalization
Collaborate with culturally specific organizations at multiple levels (direct service, manager, director, etc.) so agencies can engage in transformative systems change together
- Form partnerships with culturally specific organizations that have expertise in serving BIPOC communities and survivors of domestic violence
- Involve representatives from these organizations in all levels of decision-making, from program development to policy formulation, to ensure their perspectives are valued and integrated into the child welfare system
- nvest in cross-training and capacity-building opportunities to foster mutual understanding and effective collaboration
Utilize community reinvestment funds and strategies
- Advocate for the allocation of resources from the child welfare system's budget to support community-led initiatives and services that empower survivors and their families
- Collaborate with community organizations to identify and implement effective strategies for reinvesting resources back into the communities they serve
- Engage in regular evaluations to measure the impact of community reinvestment efforts on improving outcomes for survivors and families
Nurture and promote strategies that create trauma-informed environments and enhance staff well-being
- Provide comprehensive training for child welfare workers to build their trauma-informed practice skills and understanding of the impact of trauma on survivors and families
- Implement policies and practices that prioritize staff well-being, including regular debriefing sessions, access to mental health support, and flexible work arrangements
- Foster a culture of continuous learning and growth within child welfare agencies to encourage staff to engage in self-care and personal development
Resources
- Transformational Collaborations: Considerations to Apply a Racial Equity Lens
There is a strong interest and movement towards collaboration in the victim services field. A critical analysis of collaboration efforts that involve culturally specific organizations, however, show they often amount to little more than a referral network, function independently, and centralize leadership and control. Traditional collaboration concepts fail to critically examine how power is conceptualized, activated, and institutionalized in the United States. This leads to a frequent and pervasive exclusion of culturally specific organizations that perpetuates inequities; even in projects intended to address them. The Transformational Collaborations: Considerations to Apply a Racial Equity Lens will help expose the subtle, yet insidious mechanisms that lead to the marginalization of people of color and culturally specific organizations, offer strategies to resist these mechanisms, and provide recommendations to transform collaborations into equitable partnerships.
- How Can Child Protection Agencies Partner with Domestic Violence Programs
This issue brief from Casey Family Programs provides guidance and recommendations on how child welfare and domestic violence programs can build stronger partnerships and collaboration to better meet the needs of families with intersecting family violence and child maltreatment concerns.
- Working Together: Domestic Violence Advocates Co-Located at DHS Offices
This resource guide from Oregon’s Department of Human Services provides guidance and resources for fostering effective collaborations between DV organizations and Child Welfare and Self-Sufficiency offices in order to support the co-located DV Advocate Program. While the guide is state specific, this resource may be helpful to other states considering implementation of co-located DV advocates at child welfare offices. - Co-location of Child and Family Services
This guide examines the practice of cross-system collaboration between substance abuse, domestic violence, and child welfare agencies, which often serve the same population. The website gives examples of States that co-locate these services in order to better serve children and families.
- Elevating the Work of CVI: The Importance of Collaboration in Public Safety
Part of the Implementing Community Based Violence Intervention Strategies series. This webinar will focus on a selection of community violence intervention (CVI) strategies and on creating supportive structures for implementing these strategies. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) will highlight technical assistance (TA) and community-based projects that are successfully implementing evidenced-based and community-informed youth-focused violence prevention and intervention programs. Participants will hear from several community-based practitioners who emphasize the importance of incorporating lived experiences, youth voices, and family engagement as foundational to their initiatives. - Engaging Youth in Violence Prevention
In this webinar, attendees hear from youth leader representatives from the 4,000+ Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) Promise Clubs that are actively engaged in violence prevention efforts throughout the country. You can also download the webinar highlights. - Faith-Based Partnerships: Engaging Spiritual Leaders in Responding to AAPI Survivors
This webinar features four API-GBV partners from a multi-year faith-based advocacy project that reached several Chinese/Taiwanese Christian churches and seminaries, Sikh gurdwaras, and Korean Christian Congregations in California.