Ruth Houtte, MS

Dist. Director

Dept. for Children and Families, Family Services Office

B11 THE GREENBOOK INITIATIVE: ADDRESSING THE CO-OCCURRENCE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND CHILD MALTREATMENT

Ruth E. Houtte was the Project Director for the Grafton County New Hampshire Greenbook Project.  Ms. Houtte has a Master’s Degree in Education from Northeastern University.  She has a Bachelors in Social Work.  She has 17 years experience with the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, having begun as a protective social worker, then working for the Family Life Center and Project SAFE, specializing in working with families troubled by substance abuse and domestic violence.  In 1996 she became a supervisor in the Lowell Area Office.  Two years later she founded the second case management unit in DSS to focus on co-occurrence cases involving domestic violence and child abuse/neglect.  This included the development and facilitation of a specialized domestic violence multi-disciplinary team.  She left that position in March of 2004 to assume new responsibilities with the Greenbook Project.  Greenbook was a collaborative project with the family court, child welfare and domestic violence programs.  It was funded by the federal government to improve systems’ responses to families affected by domestic violence and child abuse/neglect.  She is currently the District Director for the Department for Children and Families, Family Services Office in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.