About Safe from the Start

History

In June 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services held Safe from the Start: The National Summit on Children Exposed to Violence in Washington D.C. The Summit brought together diverse disciplines, established a strong collaborative foundation, and identified key issues that must be addressed to reduce the negative impact of children’s early exposure to violence. Policymakers and practitioners from various systems including early childhood education, justice systems, child protective services, victim services, and health care joined together to work on a blueprint for federal, state, and local action.

Following the National Summit, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, made funding available for the Safe Start Initiative, a five-and-a-half-year nationwide demonstration project designed to prevent and reduce the impact of family and community violence on young children (birth to five years of age). The City of Chicago, through the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Office of Violence Prevention, was awarded a multi-year Safe Start grant and implemented the project in Chicago’s Pullman and Englewood neighborhoods.

In response to the National Summit, Illinois held a Safe From the Start Illinois Summit in April 2000. A working group emerged; they recommended that several demonstration sites be selected to learn more about different community models to improve identification of and response to young children’s exposure to violence in Illinois.

The SFS grant program was initiated in State Fiscal Year 2001 (July 2001 – June 2002) to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive, coordinated community-based models to identify, assess, and serve children, ages 0-5, who have been exposed to violence in their home and/or community. The Illinois Violence Prevention Authority (IVPA), the state agency that aims to prevent interpersonal violence, selected its first three pilot sites in the Chicago Area.

Since the program’s launch, twelve sites have been funded to implement services and provide additional support for children and families in Illinois. Since then, three sites have closed due to challenges including the budget impasse. Currently, nine sites are still in functioning. In January 2024, three planning sites, located in Central and Southern Illinois, were awarded funding to begin strategic planning with the goal of program implementation in their areas in 2025.

Guiding Principles

An Advisory Committee was established in February 2001 to advise SFS on policies and practices related to the design, implementation, and evaluation of the SFS program. The Advisory Committee was comprised of representatives from state agencies and statewide not-for-profit organizations concerned with issues related to young children (ages 0-5) and violence. The Committee’s guiding principles included:

• Start as early as possible.
• Cross-training, professional development and technical assistance are needed to build the capacity of staff, the service delivery system, and the community.
• Teams should work from a sound knowledge base, and research findings should guide programmatic activities.
• The process and expected outcomes of the community’s strategic response to young children exposed to violence need to be evaluated and documented.
• Mutual collaboration across community agencies and systems at the state and local level is critical to develop strong, effective working relationships; enhance communication, information-sharing, and case management; and minimize the duplication of services.
• Utilizing a team approach, engage and support all the individuals and settings (e.g., family members, day care, Head Start) active in a young child’s life by involving them in education, awareness, and response activities. When appropriate, children should be identified, and services should be provided in natural settings.
• Changing attitudes and social norms about violence is essential, and efforts must include public awareness and outreach; incorporate the role of the media; and promote exposure to violence as a multidisciplinary, public health concern.
• Consider the following when delivering services, policies, and protocols to support children and families:
• Ensure security, safety, and stability.
• Be respectful and nonjudgmental.
• Listen to the children.
• Keep mothers/caregivers safe in order to keep children safe.
• Promote cultural sensitivity.
• Ensure services are developmentally appropriate.
• Hold perpetrators accountable for their behavior, while at the same time
• increasing services for victims and perpetrators.
• Efforts should be tailored to build from the existing and unique strengths and resources in the community and among families, while also addressing gaps and barriers.
• Be an advocate for children and families by supporting the relationship between the child and non-offending parent/caregiver.

Priorities

While this this program responds to several priorities established by the 2022 ICJIA Victim Services Planning Committee, SFS most directly addresses priority areas of public awareness, trauma services, evidence-informed practices, and data collection and evaluation.

Priority Area: Public Awareness

The SFS Program Model shares the priority of public awareness. SFS increases public awareness of the prevalence and impacts of children’s exposure to violence, as well as opportunities for effective prevention and intervention. Engagement of children, families, and communities is critical to ensure awareness-raising efforts are relevant and inclusive. SFS increases awareness and education about children’s exposure to violence in a variety of ways, including community presentations and events, professional training, and media campaigns.

Priority Area: Trauma Services

A foundational component of SFS is the provision of direct services to young children who have been exposed to violence and their families. Assessments are conducted to ensure that children are connected to the appropriate therapeutic services to mitigate the impact of trauma and provide paths to healing. SFS’s required community-based coalition enhance referral networks, reducing barriers and increasing accessibility to services.

Priority Area: Evidence-based Practices SFS providers are trained in evidence-based practices that demonstrate efficacy in assessing and treating childhood trauma and strengthening families. A variety of evidence-based tools and interventions are used, such as Ages and Stages Questionnaire/Ages and Stages Questionnaire Social Emotional (ASQ/ASQSE), Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Parent Stress Index (PSI), and the Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC) Framework.

Priority Area: Data Collection and Evaluation

Throughout the SFS, programs assess and document the needs of children and families. Not only is this information critical to helping individuals’ needs, the collected data provides insight into the overall efficacy of SFS, including trends in needs, services provided, and outcomes for children and caregivers who receive services.