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Initiatives to Combat Child Abuse  INITIATIVES TO COMBAT CHILD ABUSEBACKGROUNDThe Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), in collaboration with other Office ofJustice Programs (OJP) bureaus, and public and private interest groups and agencies, administersfunding to programs that develop strategies, discuss issues, and make recommendations to preventand combat child abuse. In forming partnerships with other government agencies andorganizations, OVC pools resources and support in order to develop new alternatives anddirections for resolving child abuse. For example, OVC has joined together with the Bureau ofIndian Affairs (BIA) to target family violence in Indian Country. OVC also collaborates with theOffice of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Department of Health and HumanServices to address these issues. OVC grants finance efforts by communities to create and adoptlocally responsive approaches that encourage collaboration among all sectors, including victimservice providers, victims' advocates, law enforcement authorities, health care providers, andcommunity organizations representing educators, businesses, and others involved in the fight toend child abuse.FUNDINGOVC's funding is based on the Crime Victims Fund, which is derived, not from taxdollars, but from fines and penalties paid by Federal criminal offenders. Nearly 90 percent of themoney collected each year, $363 million in 1997, is distributed as formula grant programs to Statesto assist in funding their victim assistance and compensation programs. The other portion is placedin a discretionary fund that assists Federal crime victims and training and technical assistanceprograms or demonstration projects that can be used as models of "promising practice." Since 1988,OVC has distributed over $2 billion to the States to support victim services and compensation.VOCA VICTIM ASSISTANCE PROGRAM(Formula Grants to the States)Through the Victims of Crime Act, OVC funds the VOCA Victim Assistance Program which provides fundingto nearly 3,000 local victim services and programs nationwide.These programs offer victims awide range of services, including crisis counseling, criminal justice advocacy, and shelter. Todate, using FY97 funds, States have funded 1,445 child physical abuse programs and 1,717 childsexual abuse programs for a total of $31,899,331. In addition, Court Appointed special Advocates(CASA) programs are eligible to receive VOCA funding at the State level to support services theyprovide to child victims of neglect and/or abandonment. For information about Federal fundingavailable in your State, please contact the agency designated by the Governor to administer theVOCA Victim Assistance Program. In many cases, the same agency has been designated toadminister VAWA funding.DISCRETIONARY FUND INITIATIVESThe following list of initiatives shows the collaborative commitment from the OVC, other Office of Justice Programs, and other Federal agencies and organizations to building and strengthening the response of communities nationwideto end child abuse. Many of the products produced from these and other OVC grants can beobtained through the OVCRC, a national information clearinghouse.Young Teenaged Girls Sexually Victimized by Older Men: Improving the Criminal Justice ResponseAmerican Bar Association (ABA)OVC awarded funds to the American BarAssociation (ABA) Commission on Childrenand the Law to examine the way the criminaljustice system handles statutory rape casesand identifies promising practices. TheCommission also is developing aCompendium, with specific guidance forprosecutors, victim advocates, lawenforcement officers, and judges to helpyoung teenaged girls who are victims in thesetypes of cases.Effective Intervention in Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Cases: Guidelines for Policy and PracticeNational Council of Juvenile and Family Court JudgesWith the support of OVC and theNational Center on Child Abuse and Neglectof the Department of Health and HumanServices, the Family Violence Project of theNational Council of Juvenile and FamilyCourt Judges will develop a set ofrecommended guidelines on intervening indomestic violence and child abuse cases. The grantee will compile materials frompromising programs and provide thatinformation to a multidisciplinary committeeof national experts on the subject, which willmeet several times to develop the guidelines. Guidelines will be used by child protectiveservices staff, law enforcement, attorneys,courts, family preservation agencies, andbattered women's programs.Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Community-Based Approaches to Intervening inChild Abuse and NeglectOVC, with additional support from theBureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau ofJustice Statistics, the National Institute ofJustice, the Office of Juvenile Justice andDelinquency Prevention, the ExecutiveOffice for Weed and Seed, and the ViolenceAgainst Women Grants Office, supports theChild Safe Project. The Project willcoordinate efforts of Federal, State, and localresources to develop a comprehensiveprevention and intervention program forchild victims and their families. OJP by"acknowledging the correlation betweenchild abuse and neglect and later violentdelinquency and the need to improve systemresponse, set out to create a single programaimed at helping to break the cycle of earlychildhood victimization and later juvenile oradult criminality." The goal of this 5-yearOJP-wide program is to create systemicreforms to improve services for abusedchildren; provide training and technicalassistance support to practitioners whoservice child victims and their families;strengthen a continuum of family supportservices to assure that assessment,counseling, and victim assistance services areavailable; assure the uniformity of evaluationprotocols across sites; and provideprevention education and public information. OVC is providing the grantees of thisprogram with training, technical assistance,and training materials on improving servicesfor child victims. Assistance focuses onexpanding the availability of medical servicesto sexually and physically abused childrenand mentoring or training programs forcommunities wishing to establish aChildren's Advocacy Center.The Children's Justice Act Partnerships for Indian Communities (CJA)Since 1989, the Federal Crime VictimsDivision within the Office for Victims ofCrime (OVC) has provided funding throughthe Children's Justice Act Partnerships forIndian Communities (CJA). These funds areused to assist American Indian Tribes indeveloping, establishing, and operatingprograms to improve the investigation,prosecution, and handling of child abusecases, particularly cases of child sexual abuse,in a manner that limits additional trauma tothe child victim.The goal of the CJA grantprogram is to improve the capacity of existingtribal systems to handle serious child abusecases by developing specialized services andprocedures to address the needs of NativeAmerican child victims. The program alsofocuses on developing strategies to handlecases of child sexual abuse from the initialdisclosure, through the investigation andprosecution, to the case resolution in aneffective and timely manner. The following isa list of initiatives that are funded underCJA.To learn more about these programs,please refer to the Office for Victims of Crimefact sheet about the CJA program and theaccompanying addendum which describeseach of the tribal grants.Children's Justice Act Discretionary Grant Program, Child AbuseDetection and ProsecutionOmaha Tribe of Nebraska Training and Technical Assistance for Children's Justice Act (CJA)National Indian Justice Center, Inc., Petaluma, CAChildren's Advocacy Centers in Indian CountryWestern Regional Children's Advocacy CenterTribal/Federal Judges TrainingNorthern Plains Tribal Judicial InstituteNorthern Cheyenne TribeLame Deer, MontanaPueblo of LagunaLaguna, New MexicoWestern District of WashingtonSeattle, WashingtonDistrict of MinnesotaMinneapolis, MinnesotaDissemination of Information and MaterialsOVC prepares and disseminates information through the OVC Resource Centerregarding services to victims of Federal crime. OVC has helped produce a numberof information resources, including videotapes, brochures, and resource packages. Some of these include the following: Resource Package for Children Required to Testify in Federal Court. "B. J." Learns About Federal and Tribal Court--a video. Financial Assistance for Crime Victims--a video. Inside Federal Court--a video. Bitter Earth: Child Sexual Abuse in Indian Country--a video. Young Once, Indian Forever--a video. Learning All About Court with "B.J.!"--an activity book. District-Specific Training ProgramThe District-Specific TrainingProgram is an ongoing effort to improve theresponse of Federal criminal justicepersonnel to the rights and needs of crimevictims in Indian Country. Combined withthe Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), OVC hassupported the development of regionaltrainings in Indian Country focusing onfamily violence and the unique needs ofvictims in remote areas. OVC has providedfunding and personnel support--includingscholarships to participants--for diverseconferences such as the Four Corners IndianCountry Conference, Great Lakes IndianCountry Conference, Northwest RegionalIndian Country Conference, and MidwestRegion Indian Country Conference.Tribal Court Appointed Special Advocate Programs (CASA)OVC funds CASA programs in IndianCountry. The funding has supported fourdemonstration programs, attendance ofCASA staff at the National CASAconference, training and technical assistance,and development of guidelines for all 14tribal CASA programs.Interagency Agreement with Indian Health ServicesOVC is working with the Indian HealthService and the U.S. Attorney's Office forthe District of Wyoming to provide supportfor a child psychologist to conduct forensicinterviews at an approved child advocacycenter in Indian Country, to providesupportive services to child victims of abuse(sexual and physical) whose cases mayproceed through either Federal or Tribalcourt, and to provide training and supportservices as necessary, to other U.S. AttorneyOffices in the contiguous districts.Children's Advocacy Centers (CAC)National Network of Children's Advocacy CentersOVC joined with OJJDP and the NationalNetwork of Children's Advocacy Centers to(1) develop a program demonstratingcomprehensive, multidisciplinary "state-of-the-art" medical services for child victimsliving in rural areas; (2) produce a videotapeto enhance CAC efforts to improvecollaboration with domestic violenceadvocates to better serve children and theirparents; and (3) provide training andtechnical assistance through a mentoringprogram with an emphasis on establishing achildren's advocacy center.National Symposium on Child Sexual AbuseOVC supports the participation of teamsof Federal criminal justice personnelnominated by U.S. Attorneys' Offices toattend to the Annual National Symposium onChild Sexual Abuse in Huntsville, Alabama.Child Victim Assistance Demonstration ProgramUnited States Attorneys Office for the District of ColumbiaOVC and the Executive Office for United States Attorneys are supporting a specialized child victim assistance multidisciplinarycenter program in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia. Themultidisciplinary center coordinates services and implements a joint interview/assessmentprocess and specialized services for victims. A range of program implementation and informational materials, including Child Victims and Witnesses: A Handbook for Criminal Justice Professionals, have beendeveloped and distributed to professionalsfrom other programs who work with childvictims. The program will continue todevelop these kinds of resources as well asoffer training and mentoring services to othersites wishing to replicate the program ordevelop similar services for child victims.For Further InformationContact the OVC Resource Center for a list of recent awards, announcements of grants, and information about the application process or send an e-mail to askncjrs@ncjrs.gov. More information about the Office for Victims of Crime is available through the following sources:OVC............................................ 202-307-5983OVC Web Site....................http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/OVC Resource Center............................ 800-627-6872OVC Resource Center Web Site............http://www.ncjrs.govThis document was last updated on June 26, 2008 |
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