What do we mean by trauma-informed services and why is such an approach important?
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Injury Prevention & Control: Division of Violence Prevention has developed resources related to sexual violence .
- The National Traumatic Stress Network provides information related to sex abuse. They define child sexual abuse as any interaction between a child and an adult (or another child) in which the child is used for the sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or an observer. Sexual abuse can include both touching and non-touching behaviors.
- National Center for Victims of Crime provides facts, statistics, and resources related to child sex abuse.
My agency has decided it wants to be more trauma-informed. Where do I start?
- Parenting a Child Who Has Been Sexually Abused: A Guide for Foster and Adoptive Parents (PDF) was produced by childwelfare.gov which is funded by the Children’s Bureau. This factsheet discusses how you can help children in your care by educating yourself about child sexual abuse, establishing guidelines for safety and privacy in your family, and understanding when and how to seek help if you need it.
- Child Welfare Practices for Cases with Child Sexual Abuse (PDF) was developed by the Oregon Department of Human Services to help protect children and promote children’s safety in their homes and specifically to assist victims of child sexual abuse and their families.
- The National Center on Trauma-Informed Care developed a technical assistance document on Engaging Women in Trauma-Informed Peer Support for providers who serve women. The guide is a resource to learn how to integrate trauma-informed principles into programs and services for women, and is particularly relevant to programs providing domestic violence services.
We’ve begun working on these issues, but are trying to decide what to tackle next. How can I figure out my next steps?
- National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health develops and promotes accessible, culturally relevant, and trauma-informed responses to domestic violence and other lifetime trauma to include sex abuse.
- DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has produced a webinar, Girls at Risk: A Trauma-Informed Approach that helps to illustrate how exposure to domestic and intimate partner violence in adolescence may have lifelong negative consequences.
What are the key issues in making sure my agency does not re-traumatize our clients?
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed Preventing Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations: Getting Started on Policies and Procedures (PDF). This report is designed for representatives of youth-serving organizations who are interested in adopting strategies to prevent child sexual abuse. Whether these strategies are developed within the context of an overall risk management plan or are addressed separately, organizations need to examine how they can protect youth from sexual abuse
How do I develop the capacity of my staff to deliver trauma-informed services?
- SAMHSA’s National Center for Trauma-Informed Care and Alternatives to Seclusion and Restraint (NCTIC) provides training for policy makers, administrators, staff, leaders, peers, and individuals who have experienced traumatic events, as well as to others in order to implement trauma-informed approaches in a range of service systems, including mental health, substance misuse, criminal justice, victim assistance, peer support, education, primary care, domestic violence, child welfare, and others.
Additional or specialized resources
- The Online Directory of Crime Victim Services , a resource from the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). Since its launch in 2003, the Directory has helped thousands of crime victims and service providers find nonemergency crime victim service agencies in the United States and abroad.
- Sexual Abuse among Homeless Adolescents: Prevalence, Correlates, and Sequelae (PDF) was developed jointly by Research Triangle Institute (RTI), Child Trends, and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) for the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF).
- The Psychological Consequences of Sexual Trauma is issued by National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. This resource explores the psychological consequences of sexual trauma. Sexual trauma among survivors have been widely studied, but research investigations continue, in part, because rates of violence against girls and women remain high
- Eight Common Myths about Child Sexual Abuse is a resource developed by The Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence (formerly the Leadership Council on Mental Health, Justice, and the Media) was founded in 1998 by professionals concerned with the treatment of victims of trauma, both in professional circles and by the legal system.
- Recantation and False Allegations of Child Abuse (PDF) provides information on issues pertaining to recantation and false allegations of abuse by children are among the more complex to understand psychologically and to interpret accurately. This issue was developed by the National Child Advocacy Center through funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- The Office on Women’s Health from the United States Department of Health and Human Services provides resources on sexual assault and abuse.
- Sexual Violence Prevention: Beginning the Dialogue (PDF) is a resource from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The resource is developed to review theoretical frameworks and to define and describe prevention concepts and strategies that were compatible with the public health approach and would benefit entire communities affected by sexual violence.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Injury Prevention & Control: Division of Violence Prevention provides additional resources
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