Community Based Response Team to Respond to Opioid Crisis

OVC’s mission is to enhance the Nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and provide leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime. OVC achieves this mission, in part, by administering discretionary award programs supported by the federal Crime Victims Fund to develop innovative training and technical assistance, and to provide direct services to improve the overall quality of victim assistance. The purpose of the FY 2018 Enhancing Community Responses to the Opioid Crisis: Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims is to address an urgent gap in crime victim services related to the opioid epidemic and to expand upon existing or establish new programs to provide services to children and youth who are victimized as a result of the opioid crisis. The overarching goal of this program is to support children and youth who are crime victims as a result of the opioid crisis by providing direct services and support to these young victims at a community or jurisdictional level.

With this award, the Comprehensive Community Action Program will develop a strategy and program to successfully address children, from birth through 18, who are affected by their parent/guardian’s opioid and related drug abuse. The project will create two multidisciplinary teams consisting of a behavioral health clinician and a case manager who will provide assessment, short-term intervention, and further linkages and referrals for children and youth primarily identified by first responders (police, fire/emergency personnel, child welfare, community stakeholders) as victims of neglect or abuse, including trauma, and need intervention due to their parents’ drug abuse. We will provide a community-based team in Cranston, Rhode Island’s second largest city (pop. 81,034) which has evidenced 312 emergency room visits due to opioid overdoses between February 2016–April 2018; 59 overdose deaths during the last 3 years; and 519 Narcan kits administered. The second team will work in Coventry (pop. 34,996), a rural town experiencing an increase in opiate usage. During similar timeframes, Coventry noted 89 emergency room visits due to overdoses, 22 opioid-related deaths, and 152 Narcan kits administered. CCAP has physical locations in both these communities and already provides services to children and youth. As a community action program, CCAP will leverage additional comprehensive assistance including services in the schools.

CA/NCF