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THE GREENBOOK INITIATIVE: ADDRESSING THE CO-OCCURRENCE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND CHILD MALTREATMENT

Presenters: Diana Avery, Ruth Houtte, Amber Ptak

Abstract Category: Domestic Violence

Instruction Level: Intermediate

Presentation: Click Here

Description:

The Greenbook Project was a federally funded project awarded to six counties to demonstrate effective approaches to addressing the co-occurrence of domestic violence and child maltreatment. Three former Greenbook sites (El Paso County, CO; Grafton County, NH; Lane County, OR) will provide an overview of their initiatives, lessons learned and recommendations for other communities to implement Greenbook strategies.

Abstract:

In 1999 the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) published Effective Intervention in Domestic Violence & Child Maltreatment Cases: Guidelines for Policy and Practice, commonly known as the Greenbook. The Greenbook addressed concerns related to the needs of mothers and children who were the victims of domestic violence, and how the core systems that they interacted with (courts, child welfare, and DV advocacy) could improve services to these individuals through collaboration. These concepts of system reform carried into the community through a partnership among the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), NCJFCJ, Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF), and the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). Six demonstration sites located in El Paso County, CO; Grafton County, NH; Lane County, OR; San Francisco, CA; Santa Clara County, CA; and St. Louis County, MO were funded for over five years to develop a differential response to enhance adult/child victim safety and offender accountability. This was a ground breaking attempt at improving collaboration among systems that historically have not approached the issue of domestic violence from the same perspective and became a learning experience for all involved. All Greenbook sites came to an end in 2007.  Currently, the funded sites assist un-funded communities with their planning, implementation, and training needs utilizing the lessons learned from six years of implementation. The Greenbook Project Directors help communities move forward independently and serve as partners and leaders in sharing the experience and expertise they have developed from their participation on the project.