Enhanced Services to Children and Youth Exposed to Domestic Violence: Promising Practices & Lessons Learned - Promising Futures

Children react to exposure to violence in different ways, and many children show remarkable resilience. (Finkelhor, Turner, Ormrod, Hamby, & Kracke, 2009)

This Special Collection provides lessons learned and related resources from nine HHS-funded 3-year demonstration projects to enhance services to children and youth who have been exposed to domestic violence.

Prepared by the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence in collaboration with the Family and Youth Services Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In October 2003, the United States Post Office issued a “Stop the Violence Stamp” as directed by the Stamp Out Family Violence Act of 2001, to provide the public with a direct and tangible way to contribute funding for domestic violence programs. The proceeds from the stamp sales over a two-year period were transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to carry out the purposes of the Act with a focus on enhancing services to children and youth impacted by domestic violence.

In 2005, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a division of HHS, released funds for the development of demonstration projects to enhance services to children and youth who have been exposed to domestic violence. Three-year grants were awarded, after a competitive process, to projects in California, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Michigan, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Virginia to explore innovative approaches to intervention and prevention for families in both shelter and non-shelter settings.