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Overview | Funding | Evaluation | TTA | Contacts | Resources | FAQs | | Overview | Top | The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides leadership and technical assistance in the development, implementation, and operation of new approaches, techniques, and methods related to juvenile justice and delinquency prevention. In 1999, OJJDP created the Safe Start Initiative to prevent and reduce the impact of children’s exposure to violence in both the home and the community, and to expand the knowledge base of evidence-based practices. Exposure to violence is defined as being a victim of abuse, neglect, or maltreatment, or as witnessing domestic violence or other forms of violent crime in the community.
The Safe Start Initiative has two specific goals: to create a comprehensive service delivery system encompassing prevention, early intervention, treatment, and acute response; and to improve the access, delivery, and quality of services for children at high risk of being exposed to violence and for those who have already been exposed.
The Safe Start Initiative is implemented by diverse communities across the nation, supported by a national team providing information and resource development. This national team also conducts research and evaluations, and administers training and technical assistance.
Safe Start Communities
Safe Start was designed as a comprehensive national framework consisting of four phased practice components, two of which have either been implemented or are currently being implemented in various communities across the country. The Safe Start communities are funded competitively through OJJDP, and they work to coordinate the efforts of service providers in key areas, such as early childhood education, health, child welfare, substance abuse prevention and intervention, domestic violence, law enforcement, and the courts to address the needs of children exposed to violence.
Phase I—Safe Start Demonstration Sites
The initial phase provided funding for demonstration sites in eleven communities from 2000-2006: Baltimore, MD; Bridgeport, CT; Chatham County, NC; Chicago, IL; Pinellas County, FL; Pueblo of Zuni, NM; Rochester, NY; San Francisco, CA; Sitka Tribe of Alaska; Spokane, WA; and Washington County, ME. The communities were engaged in creating a continuum of care primarily based on then current literature on the detrimental effects exposure to violence on children, particularly young children. The sites were charged with developing a systemic response for preventing and reducing these effects on children and their families.
Phase II—Safe Start Promising Approaches Pilot Sites
The second phase provides funding for Safe Start Promising Approaches in fifteen communities from 2005-2010: Chelsea, MA; Dallas, TX; Dayton, OH; Erie, PA; Portland, OR; Oakland, CA; Miami, FL; Kalamazoo, MI; Toledo, OH; San Mateo, CA; San Diego, CA; Bronx, NY; Providence, RI; Pompano Beach, FL; and New York City, NY. These communities draw on the findings and experiences of the Demonstration sites and other advances in evidence-based practices. The focus of the pilot phase is to test the effectiveness of specific intervention approaches for improving outcomes and reducing the harmful effects of children’s exposure to violence. | | Evaluation | Top | OJJDP has undertaken several research-based evaluations to assess the overall impact of its programs at the various phases of the initiative.
In Phase I, the Association for the Study and Development of Communities conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the eleven Safe Start sites. The goal of this evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of communities in creating a comprehensive continuum of care for families experiencing violence. The evaluation found that expanding existing partnerships and implementing systems change activities, creating coordinated and comprehensive systems of care, institutionalizing system changes, and increasing community supports for children exposed to violence could help improve outcomes for these children. These system changes helped improve outcomes for children by increasing access and identification to services and awareness of the impact of children’s exposure to violence. The evaluation also found that these communities were able to reduce trauma symptoms in children, parenting stress, and in some cases, even the amount violence children were experiencing.
In Phase II, the RAND Corporation is currently conducting an experimental/quasi-experimental evaluation of the Safe Start Promising Approaches communities. The goal of this evaluation is to develop an evidence base of promising practices and policies that yield the best outcomes for children exposed to violence and their families. The groundbreaking study design uses proven uniform measures across age, type of violence, and setting. The knowledge obtained from this gold standard study will be widely disseminated so other communities can replicate the evidence-based practices.
OJJDP in partnership with the Center for Disease Control, is leading the collection of the first-ever comprehensive national numbers on the amount of violence children in this country experience. This National Incidence and Prevalence Study on Children Exposed to Violence is being conducted by Dr. David Finkelhor, Dr. Heather Turner, and associates from the University of New Hampshire. The National Incidence and Prevalence Study on Children Exposed to Violence, seeks to document incidence and prevalence and evaluation variations in rate, types of violence, characteristics, protective factors, levels of trauma, etc. | | Training and Technical Assistance | Top | OJJDP's Safe Start Center provides training, technical assistance, and consultation support to Safe Start communities, including national teleconferences, a national database of consultants with specific technical and content expertise, and active recruitment of additional expert consultants, as well as matching services and effectiveness assessments. The Center also convenes national and regional Safe Start meetings to foster a learning community and ensure the efficient sharing of knowledge and skills among grantees, national partners, and the general field.
| | Contacts | Top | | OJJDP Contact(s) | Kristen Kracke
Program Manager
202-616-3649
kristen.kracke@usdoj.gov | | Evaluation Contact(s) | Association for the Study and Development of Communities
444 N Frederick Avenue, Suite 315
Gaithersburg, MD 20883
301-519-0722
http://www.capablecommunity.com
Crimes Against Children Research Center
University of New Hampshire
20 College Road
126 Horton Social Science Center
Durham, NH 03824
603-862-1888
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc
RAND Corporation
1776 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401-3208
310-393-0411
http://www.rand.org
| | Training and Technical Assistance Contact(s) | OJJDP's Safe Start Center
8630 Fenton Street, Suite 120
Silver Spring, MD 20910
800-865-0965
info@safestartcenter.org
http://www.safestartcenter.org
| | Resources | Top | | OJJDP Publication(s) | Children’s Exposure to Violence: The Safe Start Initiative
Fact Sheet, April 2001. Presents an overview of the Safe Start Initiative, which is designed to prevent and reduce the impact of violence on young children and their families. 2 pages. FS 200113.
AbstractSafe From the Start: Taking Action on Children Exposed to Violence
Summary, November 2000. Presents an action plan for addressing the problem of children's exposure to violence. 76 pages. NCJ 182789.
Abstract | | Link(s) | National Study of Children's Exposure to Violence (NATSCEV)
The National Study of Children's Exposure to Violence, funded by OJJDP and the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, is designed to document the incidence and prevalence of children's exposure to violence, with emphasis on exposure to domestic and community violence. Safe Start: Promising Approaches Communities
describes the 15 communities and outlines how their programs are integrating evidence-based or promising practices and other complementary interventions. | | Other Resources | Dissemination of Promising Practices and Diffusion of Innovations
OJJDP and the Safe Start Initiative works with a wide range of national and local partners to raise awareness of the impact of exposure of violence on young children and their families and to disseminate information on innovations and promising practices in the field. National partners include the American Psychological Association, the California State Attorney General's Office, the Early Trauma Treatment Network, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, the Institute of Violence, Abuse, and Trauma at Alliant University, the Institute for Community Peace, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and Zero to Three.
OJJDP's Safe Start Center provides public access to a wide variety of information and resources on children's exposure to violence within homes, schools, and communities and collaborates with the above partners to raise awareness of children's exposure to violence. The Safe Start Center also provides training and technical assistance in the Safe Start communities. |
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