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Child Development-Community Policing Program

An Evidence-Based Practice

Description

The goal of the Child Development-Community Policing Program (CDCP) is to reduce the negative consequences of exposure to violent and potentially traumatic events among children and their families living in New Haven, Connecticut.

The CDCP Domestic Violence Intervention Project includes: weekly interdisciplinary conferences for case review, strategic planning, and follow-up; regular follow-up home visits by patrol officer/advocate teams to households that have reported incidents of intimate partner violence; and 24 hour availability of clinical and advocacy intervention to battered women and their children at the request of police officers.

The most important aspect of CDCP is the home visit protocol. During home visits, neighborhood patrol officers and outreach advocates conduct follow-up visits with victims of domestic violence. These visits provide improved enforcement of court orders of protection, increase familiarity between domestic violence victims and police officers, disseminate information related to criminal justice processes, social service options, and common psychological responses of adults and children, and facilitate access to clinical and other social services.

Goal / Mission

The goal of the Child Development-Community Policing Program (CDCP) is to reduce the negative consequences of exposure to violent and potentially traumatic events among children and their families.

Impact

The CDCP Program shows that through community policing efforts, it is possible to successfully intervene early in an attempt to ameliorate the effects of children's exposure to violence.

Results / Accomplishments

Over the 6-month follow-up period, women in the intervention group were significantly more likely to engage in treatment for their children and sustain treatment than were women in the control group (p<0.05). Also, children in the intervention group were significantly more likely to report that they found it easier to talk to police officers than children in the control group (p<0.05).

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
Yale Child Study Center & New Haven Department of Police Service
Primary Contact
Dr. Steven Berkowitz, MD
Yale Child Study Center
230 South Frontage Rd.
New Haven, CT
06519
203-785-2540
Steven.Berkowitz@uphs.upenn.edu
https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/communitypart...
Topics
Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse
Organization(s)
Yale Child Study Center & New Haven Department of Police Service
Date of publication
2000
Geographic Type
Urban
Location
New Haven, CT
For more details
Target Audience
Children, Families
Kansas Health Matters