CDCP Domestic Violence Intervention Project

Through the Child Development-Community Policing Program (CDCP), NCCEV provides immediate and follow-up interventions for children and families exposed to violence in the New Haven, Connecticut area. CDCP, developed in 1991, is a collaborative partnership between New Haven police, Child Study Center clinicians, battered women’s advocates, juvenile justice personnel, educators and others, which seeks to reduce the negative consequences to children and their families of exposure to a broad range of violent and potentially traumatic events, including domestic violence. The program model has been implemented in communities across the United States. (see CDCP intervention pages).

CDCP Domestic Violence Intervention Project

More than a third of all referrals received by the CDCP consultation service involve incidents in which children witness assaults or threats against their mothers by intimate partners. The CDCP Domestic Violence Intervention Project is a specialized component of the CDCP consultation service that offers assistance to battered women by addressing their immediate needs for safety and security and by focusing on their children’s needs for protection and other support. The CDCP Domestic Violence Intervention Project includes:

24 hour availability of clinical and advocacy intervention to battered women and their children at the request of police officers
Weekly conferences for case review, strategic planning and follow-up
Weekly interdisciplinary program conferences for case review, strategic planning and follow-up
Regular follow-up home visits by patrol officer/advocate teams to households that have reported incidents of intimate partner violence

The cornerstone of the CDCP Domestic Violence Intervention Project is a home visit protocol in which neighborhood patrol officers are paired with outreach advocates to conduct follow-up visits to victims of domestic violence in five of New Haven’s ten community policing disticts. Visits provide improved enforcement of court orders of protection and other safety related interventions, increase familiarity between domestic violence victims and neighborhood officers, disseminate information related to criminal justice processes, social service options and common psychological responses of adults and children, and facilitate access to clinical and other social services. Preliminary data show that families that received follow-up visits report fewer than half as many new calls for domestic violence as compared to similar families that received standard police service. Victims also report feeling safer as a result of team’s visits and more likely to call the police in the future.

NCCEV is currently conducting a more intensive evaluation of the home visit project, which includes in-depth interviews of women regarding their experience of police responses, police/advocate home visits, other services they have utilized, repeat violence against them and their children’s responses to violence and police intervention. This evaluation will provide more detailed data describing the impact of this collaborative intervention approach. Evaluation data will also inform future efforts to replicate this element of the CDCP program in other communities. For more information about the home visit outreach project, contact the NCCEV Resource Center.

Publications

Early childhood, domestic violence, and poverty. Paper Series. School of Social Work , University of Iowa . Susan Schechter and Jane Knitzer, eds. pdf

Series introduction, by Susan Schechter and Jane Knitzer. pdf
Series Paper #1: Helping young children affected by domestic violence: the role of pediatric health settings, by Betsy McAlister Groves and Ken Fox. pdf
Series Paper #2: Young children living with domestic violence: the role of early childhood programs, by Elena Cohen and Jane Knitzer. pdf
Series Paper #3: Domestic violence and family support programs: creating opportunities to help young children and their families, by Nilofer Ahsan. pdf
Series Paper #4: Police in the lives of young children exposed to domestic violence, by Miriam Berkman and Dean Esserman. pdf
Series Paper #5: Working with young children and their families: recommendations for domestic violence agencies and batterer intervention programs, by Abigail Gewirtz and Resma Menakem. pdf
Series Paper #6: Young children’s exposure to adult domestic violence: toward a developmental risk and resilience framework for research and intervention, by Abigail Gewirtz and Jeffrey L. Edleson. pdf
2006 Victim responses to a Domestic Violence Home Visit Intervention (PDF)

Children exposed to domestic violence handbooks. London Family Court Clinic.

Children exposed to domestic violence: an early childhood educator’s handbook to increase understanding and improve community responses (2002) L. L. Baker, P.G. Jaffe, L. M. Ashbourne & J. Carter. pdf
Children exposed to domestic violence: a teacher’s handbook to increase understanding and improve community responses (2002) L. L. Baker, P.G. Jaffe, L. M. Ashbourne & J. Carter. pdf
Children exposed to domestic violence: a handbook for youth justice workers to increase understanding and improve community responses (in press – check url for more info) L. L. Baker, P.G. Jaffe.
Children exposed to domestic violence: a handbook for police trainers to increase understanding and improve community responses (2002) L. L. Baker, P.G. Jaffe, S. J. Berkowitz & M. Berkman. pdf

For additional information, call the NCCEV at 203-785-7047 or email nccev@info.med.yale.edu