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The
Child Witness to Violence Project (CWVP) is a counseling, advocacy,
and outreach project that focuses on the growing number of young
children who are hidden victims of violence: children who are bystanders
to community and domestic violence. The project began in 1992 and
currently counsels over 100 children and their families each year,
in addition to implementing both national and state-focused training
for health care professionals, police, educators, and many other
social service professionals who confront issues of children who
witness violence.
The
Child Witness to Violence Project is staffed by a multi-cultural,
multi-lingual staff of social workers, educational and clinical
psychologists, early childhood specialists, a consulting attorney,
and a consulting Pediatrician. It is run under the auspices of the
Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Boston
Medical Center.
Our Services
- Counseling
and Advocacy
- Developmentally
sensitive therapy with the child
- Parent
guidance, family therapy or child-parent psychotherapy
- Advocacy/intervention
to stabilize the environment of the child
- Case-related
consultation to schools, and early care and development centers
Referrals
Referrals
to The Child Witness to Violence Project come from a variety of
sources, including the police, health and mental health providers,
Head Start and other early childhood programs, schools, attorneys,
shelters for battered women, court-sponsored victim programs and
the families themselves. Referral criteria include
- The
child must be 8 years old or younger
- The
child must have witnessed an act of significant violence
- If
the child's primary reason for referral does not meet the criteria
for our programwe will help to refer the child to other programs.
To
make a referral, call Suzanna Andrew at 617-414-4522 or email at
Suzanna.Andrew@bmc.org
Training and Consultation
The
Child Witness to Violence Project offers many training opportunities
for agencies and providers who work with children affected by violence
·
An example of the training is a bi-annual two-day training institute:
"Clinical Intervention with Children Affected by Domestic Violence"
that is offered at Boston Medical Center.
· This training in done at Boston Medical Center or on-site
at host agencies throughout the country.
Special
Projects
- Collaboration
with Family Communication, Inc. (producers of Mister Rogers
Neighborhood) (www.fci.org/early_care/violence_main.asp)
The
Child Witness to Violence Project collaborated with Family Communications
on the production of "Safe Havens", a series of training
videos for early childhood teachers working with children who
are affected by community violence. We also provided consultation
around development of a series of training videos, One on One:
Connecting Kids and Cops, for police officers who encounter
children affected by violence.
Contact
Person: Maxine Weinreb, Ed.D. Maxine.Weinreb@bmc.org
- Curriculum
and Training for Mental Health Professionals
A
curriculum has been developed to train mental health clinicians
in clinical assessment and treatment of children who have witnessed
domestic violence. It is entitled "Shelter from the Storm:
Clinical Interventions with Young Children Affected by Domestic
Violence". ( see our Resources
section. )
Contact
Person: Maxine Weinreb, Ed.D. Maxine.Weinreb@bmc.org
- The
Early Trauma Treatment Network/National Child Traumatic Stress
Network (www.nctsn.org.)
In
October, 2001, The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration funded a national network of centers to improve
the quality and availability of services for traumatized children,
their families and communities throughout the United States. The
Child Witness to Violence Project is a member of the Early Trauma
Treatment Network (ETTN), a unique collaboration between the University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Louisiana State University
Health Sciences Center, Tulane University Medical Center, and
Boston Medical Center. The ETTN is focused on providing Child-Parent
Psychotherapy, a manualized, multimodal, relationship-based treatment
for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers exposed to domestic violence,
child abuse, or traumatic loss. The Child Witness to Violence
Project will implement and help evaluate this innovative treatment
approach with children aged 0-5, and their caregivers who have
experienced violence and traumatic loss.
Contact
Person: Michelle Acker, Psy.D. Michelle.Acker@bmc.org
- Collaboration
with the Family Violence Prevention Fund, (www.endabuse.org
/newsdeck/releases.)
This
collaboration resulted in the development of consensus recommendations
for screening for domestic violence in pediatric settings called
Identifying and Responding to Domestic Violence.
Contact
Person: Betsy McAlister Groves, MSW Betsy.Groves@bmc.org
- The
Child Protection Team at Boston Medical Center
The
Child Protection Team (CPT) at Boston Medical Center is comprised
of a multidisciplinary group of professionals who work together
to identify and respond to actual or suspected cases of child
abuse and neglect in the patient population of the hospital. The
CPT maintains oversight of all cases of suspected abuse and neglect,
provides training and consultation to medical clinicians in the
hospital and in the community health centers that are affiliated
with the hospital and provides direct medical consultation to
children and families affected by child abuse. (www.bmc.org/CPT/)
- The
Birth to Three Program at Boston Medical Center
The Birth to Three Program offers support for parents and
their young children around issues of parenting, discipline, temperment,
difficulty with feeding and/or sleeping, child behavior, parent-child
relationships. The team is comprised of a Behavioral and Developmental
Pediatrician and Early Childhood Specialist.
Contact Person: Carmen Rosa Norona, Ms.Ed., (Carmen.Norona@bmc.org)
- Responding
to Domestic Violence in the Pediatric Emergency Department
A grant from the Avon Foundation is supporting a collaborative
project with the Pediatric Emergency Department at Boston Medical
Center. The goal of the project is to enhance the capacity of
pediatric health care providers to respond to families affected
by domestic violence, by training them to screen, identify and
intervene with parents and children treated emergency room setting
who are affected by domestic violence. This project will provide
enhanced screening and linkage with resources for adults and children
Contact
Person: Betsy McAlister Groves, LICSW Betsy.Groves@bmc.org
- Governor's
Council on Sexual and Domestic Violence
Betsy McAlister Groves, LICSW, Project Director, is a member of
the Governor's Council on Sexual and Domestic Violence. This Council,
which is chaired by the Lieutenant Governor, evaluates legislation
to protect victims, evaluates the response of the law enforcement,
judicial, health and human services systems to the needs of sexual
and domestic violence victims, and promotes measures to prevent
and reduce the incidences of sexual and domestic violence.
Contact Person: Betsy McAlister Groves, LICSW Betsy.Groves@bmc.org
- Pediatric
Training Module
The
Boston Site of the Early Trauma Treatment Network/National Child
Traumatic Stress Network is developing a video-based training
module for pediatric providers, the goal of which is to improve
the identification and management of early childhood trauma in
pediatric settings. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service
Administration and the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Medical
Center jointly fund this project.
Contact
Person: Michelle Acker, Psy.D. Michelle.Acker@bmc.org
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