Recognizing the Power in Communities to Address Child Maltreatment

Building Community, Building Hope shows real-world collaborative solutions that address the problem of child maltreatment.By Rosie Gomez, Child Welfare Program Specialist, Children's Bureau

The Children’s Bureau recognizes the tremendous power in communities to solve the problem of child abuse and neglect. We know that families don’t exist in a bubble; they are affected by community factors around them. Housing, healthcare, jobs—all of these matter in understanding the types of stresses that families are under. Families whose lives are touched by the child welfare or prevention systems are frequently experiencing multiple, complex needs.

To effectively address the problem of child maltreatment, we need other professional communities to help us tackle this issue. That’s why we made the film, Building Community, Building Hope. Building Community, Building Hope shows real-world collaborative solutions in action. The film highlights three innovative programs working to prevent and respond to child maltreatment by engaging parents and communities and forming the community and system partnerships needed to ensure the safety and well-being of all children and families.

These programs include Partners United for Supportive Housing (PUSH) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Fostering Hope in several central Oregon counties; and the Magnolia Place Community Initiative in Los Angeles, California. 

• The PUSH story features the story of Belinda, who is dealing with the aftermath of the homelessness and temporary loss of custody of her young children following a domestic violence incident. “When I first started doing family team meetings, everybody in the room, they really make you feel like they’re on your side and they want the best for you, and they’re going to help you reach your goals no matter what,” Belinda says of one of the key PUSH strategies.

• “What we believe here in Oregon is that at least 50 percent of the kids currently in foster care would never have had to enter care at all if we would have been able to support their families to be able to protect and nurture them in meaningful ways,” says Fostering Hope’s leader, Jim Seymour. The Fostering Hope segment describes the innovative ways the initiative is promoting the protective factors “right where people live.”

• Los Angeles’ Magnolia Community Initiative, a voluntary network of about 75 partners across different sectors primarily working with the same families, seeks to overcome the system navigation challenges that often occur for families with multiple complex needs. “We’re trying to establish a shared vision for a population of about 110,000 people, 35,000 of which are children in the five-square mile area, about 500 blocks in LA,” explains project director Lila Guirguis.

Thoughtful, well-told stories are great conversation starters. The Building Community, Building Hope story provides a platform for launching conversations about what we as a society can—and should—do to ensure  children  grow up to achieve their full potential, free from abuse and neglect. A discussion guide to help stimulate and shape these conversations accompanies the film. 

We encourage you to view the film and share it or the trailer with your networks. To view the “Building Community, Building Hope” video and to access a discussion guide and other resources, click here http://www.cantasd.org/.