New Connecticut Department of Children and Families Commissioner Outlines Her Position on Domestic Violence and Support for Safe & Together Model
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 & Together Model, and the importance of partnering with domestic violence survivors and collaborating with community partners. She also announced the groundbreaking 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.
Read the full text of the memo:
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 of 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.