Introduction
Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) grantee the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence launched a new online special collection of materials that provides lessons learned and related resources from the nine demonstration projects to enhance services to children and youth who have been exposed to domestic violence. The core document for this collection is the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence resource guide, Enhanced Services to Children and Youth Who Have Been Exposed to Domestic Violence: Promising Practices & Lessons Learned .
Each project described in the Guide has contributed new knowledge and experience to helping children and youth exposed to domestic violence. This knowledge and experience has strengthened the relationship between domestic violence victim advocates and other partners in the community serving children and youth exposed to domestic violence. Further, each collaboration has reinforced the shared mission of protecting victims of abuse and their children from violence by providing them with the interventions, tools and resources to move their lives and their futures forward in positive, productive and violence-free directions. This Guide showcases these projects, focusing on their goals, collaborative partnerships, experiences, challenges and successes.
FYSB’s innovative demonstration projects were made possible by sales revenue from the Stamp Out Family Violence Act, which generated $3.2 million in revenue to support domestic violence programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children, Youth, and Families to 1) develop and enhance assessment and intervention strategies for children and youth exposed to domestic violence and their parents, 2) train domestic violence programs and community partners on the effects of being exposed to domestic violence, and 3) develop or enhance community-based interventions to meet the needs of children and youth impacted by such violence.