In 1999, the National Council of Juvenile
and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) developed a comprehensive set
of guidelines designed to help caseworkers, advocates, and judges
establish collaborative structures and develop policies and procedures
that would enhance the safety and well-being of domestic violence
victims and their children. Since its release, The Greenbook, which
was formally titled "Effective Intervention in Domestic Violence & Child
Maltreatment Cases: Guidelines for Policy and Practice," has assisted
numerous domestic violence advocates, child welfare workers, and
family court judges in building a collaborative approach to working
with families experiencing domestic violence and child maltreatment.
In December of 2000, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)
entered into a partnership with other agencies of the U.S. Departments
of Justice and Health and Human Services to fund six communities
under an inter-departmental demonstration initiative, which required
the communities to implement the guidelines published in The Greenbook.
The six sites that were selected under this demonstration initiative
are: El Paso County, Colorado; Grafton County, New Hampshire; Lane
County, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Santa Clara County,
California; and St. Louis County, Missouri.
Under this five year demonstration initiative, dependency courts,
child protective services, domestic violence providers, and other
organizations collaborated within these six communities to strengthen
their capacity to address the co-occurrence of child maltreatment
and domestic violence. The six communities prioritized their activities
relating to collaboration, identification of co-occurring issues,
information sharing, batterer accountability, improved access to
services, and enhanced advocacy. Collectively, these activities
promote system integration and provide services to the entire family
rather than focusing on isolated family members or issues. In addition
to implementing the framework outlined in The Greenbook, each of
the six sites participated in a national evaluation administered
by the Office of Justice Programs' National Institute of Justice
(NIJ). The evaluation is designed to assess the extent to which
the implementation activities facilitated systems change within
the communities' pertinent agencies.
For more information on the Greenbook Initiative, please visit www.thegreenbook.info. |
