STRIKING AT THE SOURCE OF CRIME

FEDS AND COMMUNITIES TRY
OUT MAJOR SYSTEM REFORMS

A new community-based, interdisciplinary program to help reduce child abuse and teen violence is currently being tested by the U.S. Department of Justice. Five sites in the east and midwestern United States -- Huntsville, Alabama; the Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of the Chippewa Indians in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan; Kansas City, Missouri; Toledo, Ohio; and Chittenden County, Vermont -- are sharing almost $2.7 million in a comprehensive attempt to reform current methods for dealing with abused children and adolescents.

"A child who has suffered abuse or neglect is much more likely to commit a violent crime than a child who has grown up in a caring environment," said Attorney General Janet Reno. "Addressing the cycle of violence is a critical underpinning of this effort to combat youth violence and protect our nation's children."

The Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs (OTP) developed the demonstration project, called "Safe Kids-Safe Streets," in cooperation with law enforcement, prosecutors,judges, victims' and children's advocates, and mental health practitioners. "These experts told us that change needs to come at the grassroots level, and that it needs to involve the whole I community, including families," said OJP Assistant Attorney General Laurie Robinson. "OJP is committed to working as a partner with these five communities to help this change happen.

"Change needs to come at the grass roots level, and it needs to involve the whole community, including families."

Taking A Grassroots Approach
The Safe Kids-Safe Streets program is currently scheduled to be funded over five years. Each site will work to restructure the criminal and juvenile justice systems to improve the handling of child abuse cases; coordinate parenting programs and support services to protect at-risk youth; improve data collection through information-sharing across systems and agencies; and launch campaigns to teach community residents how to detect, report, and prevent child abuse.

Each site has designed strategy to meet its own community's needs. The Sault Sainte Marie Tribe will establish a computer tracking system and database to monitor child abuse cases. Kansas City will hold classes to teach basic parenting skills and help parents resolve disputes with their children without resorting to violence. Toledo will create a children's advocacy center to treat child abuse victims and prevent further abuse.

The programs will also work with less typical community resources, including grassroots organizations local bar associations, religious institutions, and local chapters of national organizations such as the National Parent-Teachers Association, the Congress of National Black Churches, 4-H Clubs, and the National Coalition of Hispanic Health and Human Services, among others.

Sharing Project Results Nationwide
"These five communities have already made progress in bringing together many different elements to form a more coordinated and effective response to child abuse and neglect," said Shay Bilchik, Administrator of OJP's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), which oversees Safe Kids-Safe Streets. "This program will help these communities expand their efforts, with the expectation that they can serve as a model. "

"We hope to elicit the core elements of an effective, long-term community-wide response, which can then be shared with communities around the country," said OJJDP's Robin Delany-Shabazz. OJJDP routinely coordinates with state advisory groups and national organizations on child health and juvenile delinquency.

"I'm sure that we'll publish a report and share said information through our Web site," Delany-Shabazz said. "We may also fund training sessions for representatives from multiple communities, and sponsor satellite teleconferences." The department also oversees mini- networks of organizations concerned with children and families, which are linking up over the Internet to share information and resources. As the program evolves, long- distance learning over the Web may be an option.

While Delany-Shabazz does not anticipate funding more demonstration sites, "Our department focuses on helping communities learn how to organize, find funding, and allocate resources. Current systems have been in place for so long that changing them can't be done in a year or two. As we grow to understand the importance of a sustained effort, we have to change to a mindset of 'What progress have we made?' rather than 'Did you solve it?'

She added, "If initial prevention programs seem expensive, look at the long- term cost, not only for the children, but for all the people around them. We can either intervene when they're young, when they can integrate the experience and live useful, productive lives. Or we can ignore the problem and wait till they are juvenile delinquents, when they're harder to rehabilitate; or wait until they're violent criminals, costing us $40,000- $60,000 annually to keep in prison.

"The results of our previous inattention to these issues are now obviously a problem for everyone."

Fixing a Broken System
The Safe Kids-Safe Streets focus has recommended finding comprehensive, interdisciplinary solutions that are developed from the ground up, with federal and state assistance. Partnerships among law enforcement, prosecution, the courts, victim advocates and service providers, schools, corrections, hospitals, and especially families are thought to be essential. Their recommendations include:

• Streamlining and expediting case processing and improving exchange of information among the dependency, juvenile, and criminal justice systems. This will help ensure that legal efforts are not duplicated, that health and mental health services are available to victims, and that family members and offenders complete court-ordered rehab or treatment.

• Keeping children and families informed of case events, establishing prosecution units dedicated to child abuse and child fatality, and promoting training for police and social workers in child abuse issues. Training should emphasize cultural relevancy and sensitivitity.

• Quality services for children, adolescents, and families must remain available, with an emphasis on preventive, family-focused, community-based initiatives. Succeeding with at-risk children and adolescents requires catching the problem early, and intervention should continue for much longer than it does under the current system.

• Communities need to do a better job of gathering and analyzing information on abuse. Simply knowing how many abuse victims there are, and what happens to them as they are handed from one system to the next, is beyond the capability of many jurisdictions. It is critical to improve and standardize data collection and distribution.

• The media should play an important role in child abuse prevention by raising community awareness and educating current and prospective parents.

• In many communities, informal networks and support systems exist (extended families, storefront churches, and grassroots and ad hoc programs) that are valuable mechanisms for assisting families and abuse victims. Formal community institutions should learn more about and partner with these groups to extend their outreach.

Feds Work Together for First Time
Safe Kids-Safe Streets represents the first time that so many of OJP's bureaus and offices have pooled their resources to support a single program. OJJDP and OJP's Violence Against Women Grants Office will each fund two sites, while the Executive Office for Weed and Seed will fund the remaining one. The five sites will receive assistance from these offices as well as OTP's Bureau of Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, and Office for Victims of Crime. The program will be evaluated by Westat, Inc., of Rockville, MD.

"We received more than 175 applications [to take part in the program], which shows us there is a growing national commitment to protect children from abuse and neglect," said Bilchik. "These communities show the greatest promise to keep kids safe."