Announcement

For Immediate Release: March 24, 2006

NEWSOM RELEASES REPORT ON SAN FRANCISCO’S RESPONSE TO CHILDREN EXPOSED TO VIOLENCE

California Political Desk
March 24, 2006
San Francisco, CA - Mayor Gavin Newsom today officially released the publication of San Francisco’s Response to Children Exposed to Violence, a five-year report from San Francisco SafeStart. This 12-page report describes in devastating detail the impact of violence on young children in San Francisco as well as how the City developed and implemented a coordinated, comprehensive response.

Based on research concerning children exposed to violence, SafeStart determined that it could amplify the effectiveness of individual agencies – and benefit more families – by using a comprehensive “family support”

approach with prevention and intervention performed by multiple agencies working in close coordination.

The prevention method SafeStart applied is to focus intervention on families with young children, to break the “cycle of violence” that can result when children exposed to violence and then repeat that behavior as adults. By responding to violence around young children, incidents of violence involving youth and adults will decrease over time.

“Effective interventions used by San Francisco SafeStart incorporate services for children, youth, and adults to help them create safer homes, schools, and neighborhoods,” said Mayor Newsom. “These services emphasize keeping families together; a fundamental goal that is often overlooked when multiple systems intervene on their own,” Newsom continued, “The SafeStart publication will help us effectively address the impact of violence on young children in San Francisco.”

SafeStart’s family support approach to violence prevention includes behavioral health counseling and treatment services, providing a SafeStart Support Line information and referral service, and campaigns to raise community awareness of the effects of violence on children in San Francisco, such as the upcoming “Peace Zone” campaign.

“Coordinating multiple responses to violence is key to SafeStart's success with children and families,” said Superior Court Judge Donna Hitchens, chair of SafeStart Steering Committee.

Begun in 2000, SafeStart is a joint effort of the City of San Francisco’s Department of Children, Youth and Their Families and the United States Department of Justice.

Among the accomplishments outlined in the five-year report, SafeStart has coordinated responses of 15 San Francisco city departments and community-based organizations to help hundreds of families with children who have been exposed to violence since 2002; secured millions of dollars in federal support through its partnership with the United States Department of Justice; enhanced the responses to families available at seven Family Resource Centers including safety planning, advocacy, and case management;

The federal government expanded SafeStart in 2005 to include Alameda and San Mateo counties. Printed copies of San Francisco’s Response to Children Exposed to Violence are available for pickup at the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services in City Hall, downloaded from the website (www.dcyf.org/safestart) or can be mailed by contacting Alan Fox, SafeStart Director, Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, 415 554-6397 or afox@dcyf.org.