Children Exposed to Violence - Softcover

Excerpted from the introduction of Children Exposed to Violence, edited by Margaret M. Feerick, Ph.D., & Gerald B. Silverman, M.Ed., M.S.W.

Copyright © 2006 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

In July 2002, 10 different federal institutes or agencies — the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Fogarty International Center, and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the National Institutes of Health; the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the National Institute of Justice in the U.S. Department of Justice; and the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education — cosponsored a 3-day workshop in Washington, D.C., on children exposed to violence. The workshop was stimulated by the interest in and attention to the problems of domestic violence, school and community violence, and war/terrorism in the United States of America and around the world. During the past two decades, much has been learned about children exposed to violence, in terms of prevalence, consequences, and mediators and moderators of violence exposure and promising interventions and approaches. However, significant gaps remain in our knowledge and understanding.

The tremendous public interest in this topic and the potential policy and intervention implications for a new understanding of the nature and extent of children’s violence exposure and the consequences of such exposure on child development provided the impetus for the workshop, which brought together researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to provide perspectives on the current state of knowledge regarding children exposed to violence and to identify research gaps and promising avenues for future research. In addition, the workshop discussions were intended to assist in the development of a clearly focused comprehensive research agenda that would reflect the current needs of the field as well as those of the larger public. We hope not only that this book will stimulate additional research on children exposed to violence but also that it will serve as a resource for practitioners and professionals who work with these children and who seek to conduct or develop evidence-based services and interventions.

The book is divided into three main sections. Section I is about the prevalence and consequences of different types of violence exposure (domestic violence, community/school violence, and war/terrorism). In these chapters, the authors — Annie Lewis-O’Connor and her colleagues, Michael Lynch, and Paramjit T. Joshi and her colleagues — detail what is known about how often and in what settings children are exposed to violence, the consequences of exposure to violence on a number of child developmental processes, and risk and protective factors related to violence exposure and successful coping and adaptation among children. Section II reviews what is known about evidence-based services and interventions for children exposed to different types of violence. Patricia Van Horn and Alicia F. Lieberman discuss a collaborative effort, the Early Trauma Treatment Network, that aims to improve the way that mental health services are delivered to traumatized young children and their families. Betsy McAlister Groves and Abigail Gewirtz review interventions and promising approaches for children exposed to domestic violence, considering the goals for intervention and proposing core principles for good practice with children. Steven J. Berkowitz and Steven Marans provide an overview of current approaches to secondary prevention and what is known about effective crisis and early intervention strategies. Finally, B. Heidi Ellis and her colleagues review interventions for children exposed to war or terrorism, using a social-ecological model as their framework. They conclude that there is a tremendous need for theoretically driven, culturally sensitive, and empirically supported treatments, especially given the fact the need for interventions for children affected by war and terrorism is unlikely to diminish in coming years.

Section III discusses legal and policy issues related to children exposed to violence. Jeffrey L. Edleson discusses specific public policies and the practices they support related to children exposed to domestic violence, focusing on the intended and unintended impacts of these policies. He outlines a set of basic values that desirable public policy would promote for children exposed to domestic violence and suggests a public policy and research agenda that maximizes safety for children exposed to violence and their families. Patricia M. Sullivan analyzes legal and policy issues affecting children with special needs (e.g., children with developmental disabilities), noting the tremendous lack of research focus on this vulnerable population.

Finally, Margaret M. Feerick and Jerry B. Silverman conclude by summarizing a number of common themes across the different types of violence exposure discussed and current and future research needs, making several recommendations for work in this area. Our goal is to stimulate additional thought, collaboration, and research on children exposed to violence so that we can move closer to finding effective ways of preventing the problem, with the ultimate goal of eliminating it.