Connecticut DCF Supervisors Report Practice Changes After Safe & Together Training

Supervisors and managers make the case-level decisions that determine whether domestic violence gets handled well: whether a worker’s assessment is complete, whether a case opens or closes, whether removal is the first response or the last resort. In 2008, Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families extended its Safe and Together™ Model training beyond frontline caseworkers to the supervisors and managers who oversee them, then surveyed participants to see what had actually changed in their practice.

Of those who responded, 66% reported a specific positive change in their supervisory practice—most often more consistent use of the agency’s Domestic Violence Consultants, sharper questions about a perpetrator’s pattern of coercive control, and more attention to the safety-planning steps survivors had already taken. 62% saw a parallel shift in their workers’ practice, mainly more empathetic engagement with survivors and stronger assessment and information-gathering.

Half of respondents (50%) tied the training to positive outcomes for families, most commonly fewer out-of-home placements and more accountability directed at the perpetrator rather than treating removal as the default response. 69% reported continued or improved use of the Domestic Violence Consultants embedded in each Area Office.