U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

A Message From OJJDP

There are few things that are more

disturbing than the abuse and exploitation of children by the very adults

who are responsible for protecting

and nurturing them.

More than two decades of research

have indicated a connection between

childhood maltreatment and delinquency. More recent research confirms the harm inflicted on children

who are subjected to family and community violence. In recognition of the

need to bring child protection to the

forefront of our Nation’s efforts to prevent delinquency, OJJDP established

a Child Protection Division (CPD).

This Bulletin describes CPD and its

efforts to safeguard children by supporting research and programs on

child victimization and exposure to

violence; providing information and

training and technical assistance to

State, local, and community-based

agencies; and developing and demonstrating effective child protection

initiatives. The Bulletin also discusses

the rationale for OJJDP’s work in the

areas of missing and exploited children and child maltreatment and describes the scope of the activities of

the division.

Protecting children is the responsibility of every adult. Through its Child

Protection Division, OJJDP provides

the guidance, support, and leadership needed to help families and

communities to carry out that important responsibility.

March 2001

Keeping Children Safe:

OJJDP’s Child Protection

Division

Thomas Cullen

Protecting children from violence, abuse,

neglect, and other forms of victimization

is one of the primary purposes of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention (OJJDP). This mandate to protect children comes from the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of

1974, which requires OJJDP to conduct

activities and programs to prevent delinquency; the Missing Children’s Assistance

Act of 1984; and the Victims of Child

Abuse Act of 1990. To carry out this mandate more effectively, OJJDP created the

Child Protection Division (CPD) in 2000 to

oversee its efforts to keep children safe

and to develop activities related to child

protection issues. This Bulletin outlines

CPD’s mission and provides brief descriptions of some of its child protection programs and initiatives.

The Mission of the

Child Protection

Division

The Child Protection Division administers

projects, programs, and initiatives related

to crimes against children and children’s

exposure to violence. It provides leadership and funding in the areas of prevention, intervention, treatment, and enforcement. CPD promotes research and

effective policies and procedures to address the problems of abused, neglected,

missing, and exploited children and

children who have been exposed to domestic or community violence. CPD activities include the following:

◆ Funding research and evaluation on

child victimization and exposure to

violence. One of OJJDP’s most extensive research efforts directed at child

protection issues is the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted,

Runaway, and Thrownaway Children

(NISMART 2).1 As mandated by the

Missing Children’s Assistance Act, the

purpose of the studies is to determine,

for a given year, the actual number of

children reported missing, including

the number of children who are victims of abduction by strangers, the

number who are the victims of parental kidnapings, and the number who

are recovered.

Another CPD research project assessed 577 child abduction/murder

cases involving 621 victims and 419

offenders. Urban, suburban, and rural

1

 NISMART 2 is the second national study to measure

the incidence of each category of missing children.

The first study, originally known by the acronym

NISMART (now known as NISMART 1), was conducted

in 1988 with results published in 1990. A more detailed

discussion of NISMART 2 can be found in Hanson, L.,

2000, Second Comprehensive Study of Missing Children,

Bulletin, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice,

Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice

and Delinquency Prevention.
2

Missing Children’s Assistance Act

The Missing Children’s Assistance Act1 provides the

legislative authority for several grants administered by the

Child Protection Division. The specific purposes for which

these grants can be used are outlined below.

The Act requires OJJDP to take the following actions:

◆ Facilitate effective coordination among all federally

funded programs relating to missing children.

◆ Establish and operate a national 24-hour toll-free telephone line by which individuals may report information

regarding the location of any missing child, or other child

13 years of age or younger whose whereabouts are

unknown to her or his legal custodian, and request

information pertaining to procedures necessary to

reunite the child with her or his legal custodian.

◆ Establish and operate a national resource center and

clearinghouse to:

❖ Provide information to State and local governments,

public and private nonprofit agencies, and individuals.

❖ Coordinate public and private programs that locate,

recover, and reunite missing children with their legal

custodians.

❖ Disseminate nationally information about innovative

and model missing children’s programs, services,

and legislation.

◆ Provide training and technical assistance to law enforcement agencies, State and local governments, elements

of the juvenile criminal justice systems, public and private

nonprofit agencies, and individuals in the prevention, investigation, prosecution, and treatment of the case of a

missing or exploited child and in locating and recovering

missing children.

◆ Conduct national incidence studies to determine for a

given year the actual number of children reported missing

each year, the number of children who are victims of abduction by strangers, the number of children who are the

victims of parental kidnapings, and the number of children

who are recovered each year.

◆ Provide State and local governments, public and private

nonprofit agencies, and individuals with information to

facilitate the lawful use of school records and birth certificates to identify and locate missing children.

To accomplish these goals, the Act authorizes OJJDP to

make grants to and enter into contracts with public agencies

or nonprofit private organizations. OJJDP’s Child Protection

Division selects and oversees the programs receiving funds

allocated through the Act. CPD monitors these programs,

which, as mandated by the Act, are designed to achieve the

following goals:

◆ Educate parents, children, and community agencies and

organizations in ways to prevent the abduction and sexual

exploitation of children.

◆ Provide information to assist in the location and return of

missing children.

◆ Aid communities in the collection of materials that would

help identify missing children.

◆ Increase knowledge of and develop effective treatment pertaining to the psychological consequences—for both parents and children—of the abduction of a child, both during

the period of disappearance and after the child is recovered, and the sexual exploitation of a missing child.

◆ Collect detailed data from selected States or localities on

the actual investigative practices used by law enforcement

agencies in missing children cases.

◆ Address the particular needs of missing children by minimizing the negative impact of judicial and law enforcement

procedures on children who are victims of abuse or sexual

exploitation and by promoting the active participation of

children and their families in investigations of child abuse

or sexual exploitation.

◆ Address the needs of missing children and their families

following the recovery of these children.

◆ Reduce the likelihood that individuals under 18 years of

age will be removed without consent from the control

of their legal custodians.

◆ Establish or operate statewide clearinghouses to assist in

locating and recovering missing children.

law enforcement agencies (large and

small) from 44 States participated in the

assessment. The assessment obtained

information pertaining to victim and

offender characteristics and relationships, offender motivation and postoffense behavior, relationships between

evidentiary sites within a homicidal

event, and the law enforcement response to these crimes. To enhance law

enforcement’s understanding of offenders who abduct and murder children

for sexual gratification, CPD also supports the FBI in its efforts to interview

offenders incarcerated for abduction

murders of missing children.

OJJDP supports the work of the Crimes

against Children Research Center (CCRC),

located at the University of New Hampshire. CCRC helps young victims of

crime by providing high quality research, statistics, and education to

policymakers, law enforcement personnel, child welfare practitioners, and the

public. The crimes of concern to CCRC

include physical and sexual abuse, abduction, homicide, rape, assault, property offenses, and the victimization of

children on the Internet.

CPD-supported evaluations of programs and initiatives that focus on

collaboration and community partnerships, such as the current evaluations

1 42 U.S.C. §§ 5771–5780.
3

Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990

The Victims of Child Abuse Act of 19901 authorizes grants administered by the

Child Protection Division and mandates the specific purposes for which the grants

are to be used. These purposes are described below.

The Act requires OJJDP to establish a children’s advocacy program to accomplish

the following goals:

◆ Focus attention on child victims by assisting communities in developing childfocused, community-oriented, facility-based programs designed to improve the

resources available to children and families.

◆ Provide support for nonoffending family members.2

◆ Enhance coordination between community agencies and professionals involved

in the intervention, prevention, prosecution, and investigation systems that respond to child abuse cases.

◆ Train physicians and other health care and mental health care professionals in

the multidisciplinary approach to child abuse so that trained medical personnel

will be available to provide medical support to community agencies and professionals involved in the intervention, prevention, prosecution, and investigation

systems that respond to child abuse cases.

The Act also requires OJJDP to make grants for the following purposes:

◆ To develop and implement multidisciplinary child abuse investigation and

prosecution programs.

◆ To provide training and technical assistance to attorneys and others instrumental to the criminal prosecution of child abuse cases in State or Federal courts,

for the purpose of improving the quality of criminal prosecution of such cases.

◆ To expand the Court Appointed Special Advocate initiative.

◆ To provide training and technical assistance to judicial personnel and attorneys,

particularly personnel and practitioners in juvenile and family courts, and to facilitate administrative reform in juvenile and family courts.

◆ To develop one or more model training and technical assistance programs to

improve the judicial system’s handling of child abuse and neglect cases.

◆ To establish programs, developed by State courts or judicial administrators, that

provide or contract for the implementation of training and technical assistance

to judicial personnel and attorneys in juvenile and family courts and administrative reform in juvenile and family courts.

of Safe Kids/Safe Streets and Safe

Start,2

 identify best practices and

effective approaches to preventing

and responding to child victimization

and exposure to violence. These evaluations allow child protection practitioners and professionals to learn

about what works and what does not

work and to build on the successful

efforts of their colleagues.

◆ Providing information, training, and

technical assistance. CPD is dedicated

to enhancing the Nation’s capacity to

prevent child victimization and respond

to victims, witnesses, and their families.

Through publications and training and

technical assistance programming, CPD

provides information about promising

programs, best practices, and emerging

trends to child protection and juvenile

justice professionals.

OJJDP publications, such as the Child

Abuse and Exploitation: Investigative

Techniques training manual, the Portable Guides to Investigating Child

Abuse, and the Crimes Against Children Bulletin series, address a number

of child protection issues. The child

abuse manual, which is used as part of

the curriculum of the Missing and Exploited Children’s Training and Technical Assistance Program (see page 5),

provides law enforcement officers and

other professionals with comprehensive and up-to-date information about

a variety of topics related to child

abuse investigations. It offers investigators practical advice and strategies

to guide them through the investigative process and help them understand

applicable legal and evidentiary requirements. The Portable Guides to

Investigating Child Abuse are a series

of compact booklets that complement

formal investigative training by providing practical guidance in an easily accessible format. The subjects of the

series’ current 13 guides include the

formation of multidisciplinary investigative teams, recognition of injuries

caused by abuse, techniques for collecting evidence and interviewing victims and witnesses, and investigative

considerations in cases of child sexual

exploitation involving computers. The

Bulletins in OJJDP’s Crimes Against

Children series present the latest information about child victimization, including analyses of crime victimization

statistics, studies of child victims and

their special needs, and descriptions

of programs and approaches that address these needs. These Bulletins

have covered topics such as kidnaping,

sexual abuse, and the reporting of

crimes against children to police or

other authorities. Individuals interested in obtaining OJJDP publications

can call the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at 800–638–8736 or access

OJJDP’s Web site (www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org).

 OJJDP’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) collaborates with approximately 60 training

and technical assistance providers to

ensure that its many constituencies

have access to appropriate services.

2

 See page 6 for descriptions of these programs.

1 42 U.S.C. §§ 13001–13004, §§ 13011–13014, §§ 13021–13024.

2

 The term “nonoffending family member” means a member of the family of a victim of child

abuse other than a member who has been convicted or accused of committing an act of child

abuse.
4

NTTAC’s Web site (www.nttac.org)

allows users to search directories of

training and technical assistance providers, learn about upcoming training

events, locate training and technical

assistance resource materials, and link

to organizations and individuals with

expertise in particular areas of the juvenile justice field. Users may also call

a toll-free number (800–830–4031) to

discuss their needs with a resource

facilitator.

The National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV) is a resource center that provides training

and technical assistance and operates

a clearinghouse that collects and distributes information on children’s exposure to violence. Access to its services and information is available

through its Web site (www.nccev.org)

and toll-free phone number (877–496–

2238). NCCEV and several other CPDsupported training and technical assistance efforts are described later in

this Bulletin.

◆ Developing and demonstrating effective child protection initiatives. As

authorized by the Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974,

the Missing Children’s Assistance Act

of 1984, and the Victims of Child Abuse

Act of 1990, CPD provides funding to

support a wide range of child protection programs. Among the initiatives

supported by CPD is the National

Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a clearinghouse and

resource center that collects and distributes data regarding missing and

exploited children, provides critical

services to families and law enforcement, and operates a national toll-free

hotline (800–843–5678). NCMEC and

many other child protection initiatives

are described later in this Bulletin.

CPD works in partnership with State, local, and tribal government agencies. It

works with other service providers, including child welfare services, courts, domestic violence services, early childhood

development services, medical services,

emergency response services, substance

abuse and mental health services, law

enforcement agencies, schools, family

support services, and social services.

CPD also collaborates with related Federal and international agencies, public

officials, community residents, families,

service consumers, faith organizations,

businesses, and the media.

Child Protection

Projects and Initiatives

CPD supports programs that:

◆ Improve overall multisystem prevention

of, intervention with, treatment of, and

response to child victimization and

exposure to violence.

◆ Enhance the investigation and prosecution of child abuse cases.

◆ Protect the rights of, secure safe and

permanent placements for, and disseminate information about abused

and neglected youth.

◆ Prevent, interdict, and investigate

online crimes against children.

◆ Prevent and increase awareness of the

negative consequences associated

with children’s exposure to violence.

◆ Support law enforcement agencies in

the search for missing children and

enhance the investigation and prosecution of abduction cases.

The following are some of the OJJDPsponsored programs and initiatives that

are funded through the Child Protection

Division. Contact information for each is

provided at the end of this Bulletin.

Court Appointed Special

Advocate Initiative

The purpose of this initiative is to increase the number of abused and neglected children who are represented in

court by a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). CASA programs benefit

abused and neglected children who are

under court custody (or are at risk of

being removed from their homes) by

providing them with timely, sensitive, 

and effective representation in dependency hearings. The initiative is run by

the National Court Appointed Special

Advocate Association, which strives to

increase CASA representation of dependent children through several strategies:

◆ Providing specialized training, technical assistance, information, and resources to support program startup,

expansion, and management; volunteer

recruitment and retention; resource

development; community outreach;

and media relations.

◆ Distributing grants to implement and

expand CASA programs nationwide.

◆ Providing planning grants and technical assistance support to tribal courts

and nations for the development of

tribal CASA programs.

There are about 850 CASA programs in 

49 States, the District of Columbia, and

the Virgin Islands. More than 47,000 volunteers and 44 State organizations offer

support services to programs within their

States. Training and technical assistance

services are available to courts, judges,

attorneys, CASA program staff and volunteers, community organizations, and the

general public.

Child Abuse Prosecution

Training and Technical

Assistance

The National Center for Prosecution of

Child Abuse (NCPCA) offers training and

technical assistance in the prosecution of

child abuse cases. NCPCA staff provide

prosecutors at the local, State, and Federal levels with information on case law

and developmentally appropriate forensic

interviewing, individualized support for

trial preparation and presentation, access

to experts and presenters, and assistance

with investigating and prosecuting cases

of child abuse and neglect. Workshops,

conferences, and informational materials

provided by NCPCA also benefit law enforcement officials, social workers, therapists, and other personnel involved in the

investigation of child abuse cases. Training and technical assistance services are

available to prosecutors, investigators,

and related personnel nationwide.

Children’s Advocacy

Center Program

The purpose of this initiative, which was

established through the Victims of Child

Abuse Act of 1990 and is implemented by

the National Children’s Alliance (NCA)

and four Regional Children’s Advocacy

Centers, is to increase the number of

communities with children’s advocacy

centers (CAC’s) through training and

technical assistance, information resources, and funding support. CAC’s

are facility-based programs that employ

multidisciplinary teams to investigate

and respond to cases of abuse and neglect. CAC’s bring together police, prosecutors, medical and mental health professionals, and child protective services

workers. As a result, these individuals are

able to better coordinate and manage

child abuse and neglect cases, reduce

trauma to the child victims, and improve

support and treatment for victims and

their families. More than 500 CAC programs are affiliated with NCA, of which

about half are full-member programs,

nearly 100 are associate-member
5

programs, and the rest are developing

programs. Currently, 26 NCA chapters

(including a Native American chapter)

work with NCA and the four Regional

CAC’s to increase the number and capacity of CAC’s. Training and technical

assistance services are available to individuals, agencies, and communities.

Internet Crimes Against

Children Task Force

Program

OJJDP established the Internet Crimes

Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program in response to the FY 1998 Justice

Appropriations Act, Public Law 105–119,

which directed OJJDP to stimulate creation of “State and local law enforcement

cyber units to investigate child sexual

exploitation.” Currently, 30 task forces—

composed of more than 125 law enforcement agencies—participate in the program. Each task force provides forensic,

prevention, and investigative assistance

to parents, educators, prosecutors, law

enforcement personnel, and other professionals working on child victimization

issues. Under the ICAC Task Force Program Investigative Satellite Initiative,

OJJDP also provides small one-time grants

for State and local law enforcement personnel to acquire specialized training

and equipment. Additionally, OJJDP will

sponsor—depending on the availability

of funds—annual conferences for agencies participating in the Task Force Program Investigative Satellite Initiative to

discuss emerging trends in software and

hardware and their relevance to criminal

activity and investigative efforts.

NCMEC also provides important elements

of the ICAC Task Force Program by offering

the multitiered Protecting Children Online

training program and the CyberTipline,

which has received more than 25,000 reports regarding suspicious activity on the

Internet since March 1998.3

Missing and Exploited

Children’s Training and

Technical Assistance

Program

This program, funded through a grant to

Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), provides training and technical assistance to

State and local agencies that serve

missing, exploited, and abused children.

FVTC currently offers five different weeklong training programs:

◆ Child Abuse and Exploitation Investigative Techniques.

◆ Child Fatality Investigation.

◆ Child Sexual Exploitation Investigation.

◆ Responding to Missing and Abducted

Children.

◆ Team Investigative Process for Missing,

Abused, and Exploited Children.

Program descriptions, schedules, and

registration information are available on

FVTC’s Web site (www.foxvalley.tec.wi.us/

ojjdp).

National Center for

Children Exposed to

Violence

The National Center for Children Exposed

to Violence is a training and technical assistance and resource facility addressing

the issue of children’s exposure to violence. NCCEV was established to support

the Safe Start initiative’s demonstration

sites (see page 6), enhance public awareness of the negative consequences to children of exposure to violence, and increase

community capacity to respond to that

exposure. NCCEV operates a national

clearinghouse and resource center that

serves as a repository of information

about the developmental risks and longterm consequences to children of exposure to violence. Training and technical

assistance services are targeted primarily

to the Safe Start sites. Some support is

also provided to Child DevelopmentCommunity Policing sites.4

 Information

resources—including NCCEV publications

and a bibliography database—are

available to the general public through

NCCEV’s Web site (www.nccev.org).

National Center for Missing

and Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a private, nonprofit

organization mandated by Congress that

works in cooperation with CPD to assist

law enforcement agencies throughout the

United States in the search for missing

children. Since 1984, NCMEC has worked

with law enforcement on 71,537 missing

child cases, resulting in the recovery of

53,581 children. NCMEC provides law enforcement, prosecutors, social workers,

doctors, therapists, and other multidisciplinary professionals with training,

technical assistance, research, and publications in many subject areas:

◆ Child exploitation.

◆ Crimes against children.

◆ Sexual abuse.

◆ Physical abuse.

◆ Child fatalities.

◆ Computer-assisted exploitation of

children.

◆ Domestic violence and its nexus to

child abuse.

◆ Domestic abduction of children.

◆ Community prosecution.

◆ Sexually violent predators.

◆ Trial advocacy for prosecutors.

◆ Victim assistance.

◆ Registration of sexual offenders.

NCMEC services include a national computer network linking NCMEC with State,

Federal, and international law enforcement agencies; Project ALERT (America’s

Law Enforcement Retiree Team), a volunteer corps of 110 professionals who have

retired from Federal, State, and local law

enforcement; and missing child alerts,

which are posted on the Internet and distributed via satellite through televised

public service announcements produced

by Fox Television’s “America’s Most

Wanted.”

National Center on Child

Fatality Review

The National Center on Child Fatality Review (NCFR) was created to improve child

safety and to promote more effective risk

assessment, accountability, and child

abuse prevention by collecting and sharing of information regarding severe and

fatal child abuse and neglect. NCFR serves

as a clearinghouse, collecting and disseminating information and resources related

to child deaths from abuse and neglect

and providing training and technical assistance to child death review teams.

NCFR enables local, State, regional, and

national entities to communicate and

3 Additional information about CPD’s Internet Crimes

Against Children Program is available online at the

following Web sites: www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/fedreg/

081799.pdf and www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/about/press/

ojp000510.html.

4

 The Child Development-Community Policing Program

(CD–CP) is a collaboration between law enforcement,

juvenile justice, and mental health professionals on

behalf of children and families exposed to violence in

their communities. CD–CP was developed by NCCEV in

partnership with the New Haven Department of Police

Services and the New Haven County Office of Juvenile

Probation, with support from OJJDP, the Office for Victims of Crimes, and the Violence Against Women Office.
6

learn from one another to improve

programs and develop activities targeted

at decreasing the number of child fatalities

caused by abuse and neglect. NCFR’s Web

site (ican-ncfr.org) provides information

that can help child death review teams

and other professionals design effective

intervention and prevention services. The

National Advisory Board developed by

NCFR encourages a better understanding

of child fatalities from abuse and neglect

and provides a national focus on suspected child abuse and neglect.

Parental Abductions

Prosecution Training and

Technical Assistance

CPD funds training and technical assistance related to the prosecution of parental abduction cases through the National

Center for Missing and Exploited Children,

which also provides training on the investigation of family abduction cases. Training

includes the role of the prosecutor in family abduction cases, relevant law, and

prosecutorial considerations. In addition,

NCMEC provides technical assistance for

prosecutors in the areas of trial strategies

and tactics, conducts legal and nonlegal

research on relevant topics, and publishes

articles and monographs on various topics

in the field.

Parents Anonymous®

OJJDP began providing grant support to

Parents Anonymous, Inc., in FY 1994. The

purpose of OJJDP’s support was to enhance the capability of Parents Anonymous’ State and local organizations to prevent child maltreatment and juvenile

delinquency by strengthening families

through self-help programs. Parents

Anonymous provides consultation, training, and technical assistance to agencies,

policymakers, and parents. Parents

Anonymous supports new programs that

use a shared leadership approach and

promote parent and professional partnerships in all aspects of family strengthening.

Parents Anonymous builds on past program activities to provide services to a

range of cultural groups (including American Indian, African American, Asian,

Latino, and Appalachian families) and to

pilot materials designed to expand and

enhance its Children’s Program. Support

is available to parents, community-based

organizations, State and local child welfare agencies, family support centers,

schools, early childhood education programs, and juvenile justice organizations,

among others.

Permanent Families for

Abused and Neglected

Children

Permanency planning is the process of

helping children who are at risk of being

removed from their families of origin

to remain safely with these families or

finding caring and safe families for children who are in temporary out-of-home

placement. The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ Permanency Planning Project disseminates information on improvements in court

practices regarding child abuse and neglect cases, focusing in particular on lessons learned from the Model Dependency

Courts authorized by the Victims of Child

Abuse Act of 1990. The technical assistance available through the project provides judges, court personnel, and related

professionals with up-to-date information

on successful court efforts to bolster the

following nationwide efforts:

◆ Preventing unnecessary foster care

placements through early identification of and service delivery to families

of at-risk and abused children and

adolescents.

◆ Making it possible for the families of

children already in care to receive

therapeutic and support services and

to be safely reunified.

◆ Ensuring permanent adoptive homes

for children when family reunification

is not feasible.

The project’s training and technical assistance services are designed to inform

judges of the frequency and severity of

child abuse and neglect. These services

provide judges with education and resource tools to improve the government’s

response to these children and emphasize

the continuing need for permanency planning in each child’s life. In the time since

the passage of the Adoption and Safe

Families Act, training has also focused on

increasing understanding of and compliance with this law.

Safe Kids/Safe Streets

The Safe Kids/Safe Streets initiative is a

51

/2-year demonstration project designed

to break the cycle of early childhood

victimization and later juvenile or adult

criminality. The initiative seeks to reduce

child and adolescent abuse and neglect

(including children’s witnessing of violence) and to prevent child fatalities.

Funded jointly by OJJDP, the Violence

Against Women Office, and the Executive

Office for Weed and Seed, the initiative is

administered by CPD through a crossagency management team. Safe Kids/Safe

Streets provides fiscal and technical support for local efforts to restructure and

strengthen the criminal justice, juvenile

justice, child welfare, family services, and

educational systems in their efforts to

respond to child victimization. Five demonstration sites—Chittenden County

(Burlington), VT; Huntsville, AL; Kansas

City, MO; Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of

Chippewa Indians, Sault Sainte Marie, MI;

and Toledo, OH—develop, implement,

and/or expand interagency strategies to

be more comprehensive and proactive in

helping children and adolescents and their

families. The initiative includes national

and local evaluation components and

provides coordinated technical assistance. Safe Kids/Safe Streets sites are

engaged in a range of activities related

to prevention, intervention, and systems

reform. These activities include implementing tailored responses by child protective services agencies to maltreatment reports, developing home visitation

programs, implementing CAC models of

multidisciplinary investigative teams,

creating neighborhood-based programs,

instituting court reforms, coordinating

domestic violence and child abuse responses and services, and expanding

family strengthening services.

Safe Start

The Safe Start initiative seeks to prevent

or at least reduce the impact of family

and community violence on young children (primarily from birth to 6 years of

age) by creating more comprehensive

service delivery systems. Safe Start communities work to expand existing partnerships among service providers in the following fields: early childhood education/

development, health, mental health, family support and strengthening, domestic

violence, substance abuse prevention and

treatment, crisis intervention, child welfare, law enforcement, and the law. This

comprehensive service delivery system

should improve access to, delivery of,

and quality of services for young children

already exposed or at high risk of exposure to violence. A national evaluation

and local evaluations at each site are currently being conducted, and training and

technical assistance are being provided
7

by NCCEV. The Safe Start communities are

Baltimore, MD; Bridgeport, CT; Chatham

County, NC; Chicago, IL; Pinellas County,

FL; Rochester, NY; San Francisco, CA; Spokane, WA; and Washington County, ME.5

Conclusion

Keeping children safe is not only CPD’s

legislative mandate but its mission. The

grantees who run the programs and initiatives administered by CPD share this

common goal. By providing information,

training, and technical assistance, grantees work at the national, State, tribal, and

local levels to improve the responses of

the justice system and related systems to

crimes against children and children’s

exposure to violence, increase public

awareness about these issues, and, ultimately, prevent them from occurring. For

updated information about CPD’s new and

ongoing projects, initiatives, and funding

opportunities, contact CPD using the information provided below.

For Further Information

For further information about CPD and its

mission, contact:

Child Protection Division

Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

202–616–3637

202–353–9093 (fax)

E-mail: laney@ojp.usdoj.gov

Internet: www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org

For further information about the projects

and initiatives described in this Bulletin,

contact:

Court Appointed Special Advocate

Initiative

National Court Appointed Special

Advocate Association

100 West Harrison Street,

North Tower, Suite 500

Seattle, WA 98119

800–628–3233

206–270–0078 (fax)

Internet: www.casanet.org

Child Abuse Prosecution Training and

Technical Assistance

 National Center for Prosecution of

Child Abuse

American Prosecutors Research Institute

99 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 510

Alexandria, VA 22314

703–549–4253

703–549–6259 (fax)

Internet: www.ndaa-apri.org/apri/NCPCA/

index.html

Children’s Advocacy Center Program

National Children’s Alliance

1319 F Street NW., Suite 1001

Washington, DC 20004

800–239–9950

202–639–0597

Internet: www.nca-online.org

Crimes against Children Research

Center

University of New Hampshire

Durham, NH 03824

603–862–1888

603–862–1122 (fax)

E-mail: david.finkelhor@unh.edu

Internet: www.unh.edu/ccrc/

Internet Crimes Against Children Task

Force Program

Child Protection Division

Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

202–616–8937

202–353–9093 (fax)

E-mail: medarism@ojp.usdoj.gov

Internet: www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/fedreg/

081799.pdf

Missing and Exploited Children’s

Training and Technical Assistance

Program

Fox Valley Technical College

Criminal Justice Department

P.O. Box 2277

1825 N. Bluemond Drive

Appleton, WI 54912–2277

800–648–4966

920–735–4757

Internet: www.foxvalley.tec.wi.us/ojjdp

National Center for Children Exposed to

Violence

Child Study Center

Yale University School of Medicine

P.O. Box 207900

230 South Frontage Road

New Haven, CT 06520–7900

877–49–NCCEV (877–496–2238)

203–785–4608 (fax)

Internet: www.nccev.org

5 Additional information about the Safe Start initiative

is available online at the following Web sites:

www.nccev.org/safe_start.html, www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/

fedreg/safestart.pdf, and www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/about/

press/ojp000229.html.

National Center for Missing and

Exploited Children

Charles B. Wang International

Children’s Building

699 Prince Street

Alexandria, VA 22314–3175

703–274–3900

703–274–2222 (fax)

Internet: www.missingkids.com

National Center on Child Fatality Review

Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and

Neglect (ICAN)

4024 North Durfee Avenue

El Monte, CA 91732

626–455–4587

626–444–4851 (fax)

Internet: ican-ncfr.org

Parental Abductions Prosecution

Training and Technical Assistance

National Center for Missing and Exploited

Children

Charles B. Wang International Children’s

Building

699 Prince Street

Alexandria, VA 22314–3175

703–274–3900

703–274–2222 (fax)

Internet: www.missingkids.com

Parents Anonymous, Inc.

675 W. Foothill Boulevard, Suite 222

Claremont, CA 91711

909–621–6184

909–625–6304 (fax)

Internet: www.parentsanonymous-natl.org

Permanent Families for Abused and

Neglected Children: A National Training

and Technical Assistance Project

National Council of Juvenile and Family

Court Judges

P.O. Box 8970

Reno, NV 89507

775–327–5300

775–327–5306 (fax)

Internet: www.pppncjfcj.org

Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Community

Approaches to Reducing Abuse and

Neglect and Preventing Delinquency

National Civic League

1319 F Street NW., Suite 204

Washington, DC 20004

202–783–2961

202–347–2161 (fax)

E-mail: bill@ncdlc.org

Internet: www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org/safekids/

index.html
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PERMIT NO. G–91

Bulletin NCJ 186158

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Washington, DC 20531

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

This Bulletin was prepared by Thomas Cullen,

a Writer-Editor with the Juvenile Justice

Clearinghouse.

Share With Your Colleagues

Unless otherwise noted, OJJDP publications are not copyright protected. We

encourage you to reproduce this document, share it with your colleagues, and

reprint it in your newsletter or journal. However, if you reprint, please cite OJJDP

and the author of this Bulletin. We are also interested in your feedback, such as

how you received a copy, how you intend to use the information, and how OJJDP

materials meet your individual or agency needs. Please direct your comments and

questions to:

Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse

Publication Reprint/Feedback

P.O. Box 6000

Rockville, MD 20849–6000

800–638–8736

301–519–5600 (fax)

E-mail: tellncjrs@ncjrs.org

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes

the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau

of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of

Justice, and the Office for Victims of Crime.

Safe Start

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

Prevention

810 Seventh Street NW.

Washington, DC 20531

202–307–5911

202–307–2093 (fax)

E-mail: krackek@ojp.usdoj.gov

Internet: www.ncccev.org/safe_start.html