On March 21, 2011, Connecticut’s new Department of Children and Families Commissioner Joette Katz sent out an all staff memo regarding the agency’s approach to domestic violence. In the memo the former Connecticut Supreme Court Justice, outlined her support for the work of the Department’s domestic violence consultants, the Safe and Together™ model, the importance of partnering with domestic violence survivors and collaborating with community partners. She also announced the ground breaking step of requesting a special review of a case involving the alleged homicide of a parent by another parent where no children were physically harmed. By requesting this review, she made explicit the importance of the connection between violence perpetrated against parents and the needs of children, even in situations where the children have not been physically harmed. The full text of the memo is below:
MEMORANDUM
To: All Staff
From:Joette Katz, Commissioner
Date:Monday, March 21, 2011
Subject:Domestic Violence
As the Department continues to evolve, it is important to validate and
build upon our existing strengths and partnerships. Almost five years
ago, in response to its deepening understanding of the devastating and
pervasive impact of domestic violence on children and families, the
Department reached out for assistance from Connecticut domestic violence
experts. In partnership with these individuals and agencies, we launched
the Domestic Violence Consultation Initiative with the purpose of
improving our capacity to identify and respond to domestic violence. Over
the past five years through the efforts of our staff and our community
domestic violence consultants, we have achieved significant positive
changes in our domestic violence practice. These changes reflect the
values and efforts that I will continue to support and expand upon as we
move forward.
The principles of this Initiative approach are consistent with a focus on
child well being, family centered practice and differential response.
Whenever possible, we should be attempting to keep children safe and
together with the non-offending parent in families experiencing domestic
violence. Partnership with domestic violence survivors should be our
default approach in these cases because these partnerships are the most
efficient and effective means to meet the safety and well being needs of
children. The vast majority of domestic violence survivors are devoting
tremendous energy towards the safety, stability and nurturance of their
children. We need to validate, support and build on these efforts,
wrapping our arms around domestic violence survivors on our caseloads, not
passing judgment on them.
We also need to use every tool at our disposal to intervene with domestic
violence perpetrators to reduce the harm they inflict on children and
families. This means actively engaging perpetrators, developing
meaningful plans that address their behaviors, making referrals to
services that are aimed at addressing domestic violence, and coordinating
with criminal court and law enforcement. Staffing cases at your local
multi-disciplinary team, attending a criminal court domestic violence
docket meeting, providing service providers with the specific information
we have gathered about the perpetrator and filing neglect petitions
focused primarily on domestic violence perpetrators are all steps we can
take, when appropriate.
As DRS and the Practice Model roll out, I am committed to maintaining the
progress the Department has already made in the area of universal
screening and assessment for domestic violence in all our cases regardless
of the presenting issue. I am especially interested in focusing on our
adolescent cases, where it is so important for us to be screening for
dating violence victimization and perpetration. I also will be looking to
our partners in the community-law enforcement, the Judicial Branch,
battered women’s advocates, mental health providers, batterer intervention
programs, and others to continue to enhance our abilities to reduce the
harm created by domestic violence perpetrators.
Lastly, I want us to consider the impact of domestic violence on children
from a holistic perspective. We need to expand beyond an incident based,
safety focus to include the chronic behavior patterns of perpetrators like
undermining a partner’s parenting and interfering with the normal routine
of children. A domestic violence assessment focused on a range of tactics
that impact both safety and well being over time is often central to a
meaningful understanding of the behavioral health, substance abuse and
mental health needs of our families.
As part of this holistic approach, we also need to strengthen our
understanding that the well-being of children in homes is closely tied to
the well being of the parent who is a victim, usually their mother. To
demonstrate my commitment to this perspective I have ordered the first
special review of a recent case involving the murder of a mother by a
father where the children were neither physically harmed nor direct
witnesses of the homicide. There is no way to deny the devastating, life
shattering impact of this event on these children. We need to learn from
this tragedy how best to respond to families where children have not been
physically harmed but there is severe violence directed at one of their
parents by a caretaker or partner.
The Department has already taken strong strides in the area of domestic
violence. It is now viewed as a national leader in the area of child
welfare and domestic violence. I want to commend all our staff and our
domestic violence consultants and promise continued support for their
efforts.