Home

Holiday Spirit Feature

Children Who Witness Violence

The Child and Family Focused Services (CFFS) program provides services to protect at-risk children from serious harm and removal from the family, and to strengthen the family’s capacity to recognize and respond to the needs of the child.

This project serves children and families referred by staff of the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The children have been determined by DCFS to be at moderate to high risk of abuse and/or neglect. We provide crisis intervention and other services to protect children in their home, stabilize the crisis situation faced by the family, and help the child’s parent or caregiver acquire the skills needed to assure the child’s safety and growth, and the family’s maintenance and well-being.

The scope of the project is the full range of interventions needed to assess and treat the child and stabilize the family, so that the children served are protected from harm. These services include psychosocial, diagnostic, and chemical dependency assessments, and face-to-face crisis intervention services that are available 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Brief, solution-focused counseling and family therapy services are provided when appropriate. Community support services (formerly referred to as case management) support the family’s achievement of problem resolution, help the family to access needed services in the community, and provide the assistance and encouragement that the child’s parents or caregivers need to achieve the goals identified in the services plan formulated by DCFS social workers. Helping parents or caregivers with essential household tasks and duties is also an essential component of the scope of project services.

Problems Addressed by the Project

Nearly one million of the nation's children are victims of abuse and neglect each year, mostly at the hands of parents or guardians. In the United States in 2004, the number of children who were victims of abuse or neglect that was substantiated by an investigation conducted by child protective services was 853,848, or about 1.2% of the nation’s total population under the age of 18. Ohio, which in 2004 ranked sixth among the states in the population of those under 18 (2,779,212), had the fifth-highest number of substantiated cases of child abuse or neglect (43,093). With 4% of the nation’s children, Ohio had 5% of the nation’s cases of substantiated child abuse and neglect. In 2003, Cuyahoga County reported 6,731 substantiated cases of abuse and neglect, or 16% of all cases in Ohio.

Recent studies document that children who have been victims of, or witnesses to, violence are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior, including aggressive behavior and substance abuse. While all victims do not become perpetrators of violence, childhood victims are at much higher risk for becoming a perpetrator of crime, violence, or abuse. Children appear to be particularly vulnerable to such effects because they have limited control over the violent environment, and little ability to obtain help, especially if violence is perpetrated by family members. Moreover, recent data and theory indicate that early and prolonged exposure to violence has an adverse effect on children’s developing brains. Juvenile justice statistics show alarming trends of increased violence and antisocial conduct among the nation’s youth. Violent offenses (criminal homicide, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) by juveniles have risen substantially, from 97,000 in 1990, to 142,000 in 1995 (an increase of 46%). Similarly, juvenile cases of simple assault rose 60% from 128,000 in 1990 to 205,000 in 1995, and drug law violations increased 124%, from 71,000 in 1990 to 159,000 in 1995. These data underscore the critical need to provide effective interventions to enhance the capacities of children to cope with the trauma they experience.

Families of at-risk children often have a broad range of stressors. Environmental stressors can be formidable, as some families reside in areas characterized by high rates of crime and ready to access to drugs and firearms. Adequately-maintained housing is often not available, and access to needed services is hampered because of cumbersome eligibility and documentation requirements. Economic stressors are common. The caregiver’s income may be insufficient to meet the needs of the family, and enrollment procedures for income support and health maintenance may be perceived as burdensome. Personal and health factors also contribute to children being at risk. Mothers or other caregivers often had no adult models from which they could learn household management, parenting, and childcare skills. Sometimes, there are ambivalent feelings about adopting the roles and responsibilities of being a caregiver. Fathers may be absent or abusive. The mother may be physically ill, depressed, or traumatized by her own experiences, and drug and alcohol use may have become a common coping response. Finally, the health and behavioral problems of the children may further erode the caregiver’s sense of efficacy, so that the child’s special needs contribute to his or her risk of abuse and neglect.

The number, nature, and complexity of the problems this program seeks to address are formidable, and we acknowledge that time-limited services are of limited value to deeply troubled families. Nevertheless, we embrace opportunities to effect a change, and we have seen notable improvements in the functioning of some children and families after brief episodes of crisis intervention services.

Copyright ©
Mental Health Services for Homeless Persons, Inc. (MHS)
1744 Payne Avenue; Cleveland, Ohio 44114 U.S.A.
216-623-6555 - TTY/TDD: 216-623-6540

The URL of this page is
http://www.mhs-inc.org/CFFS.asp
It was most recently updated on 9 June 2006.
We welcome your comments.
Please write to Joel[at]mhs-inc.org