Childhelp Children's Center's Community Response to the Opioid Crisis: Serving our Youngest Crime Victims

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 Childhelp, Inc. will improve and expand comprehensive advocacy, treatment, and support services to child victims of the opioid crisis, aged 3–17, served at the Childhelp Children’s Center of Arizona (CCCA), located in Phoenix, AZ, Maricopa County. In operation since 1998 and the largest of 22 Arizona children’s advocacy centers, the CCCA, in collaboration with its experienced multidisciplinary team (MDT), is uniquely qualified to respond to this type of victimization. The project will launch a community-based awareness campaign in collaboration with partner organizations to bring the opioid crisis to the attention of Maricopa County residents. The goals of the project are to 1) enhance the targeted provision of direct services to children who are victimized as a result of parental opioid abuse; 2) create and disseminate targeted educational/awareness materials to all MDT members and to newly identified community partners, thereby improving and increasing the community response regarding the impact the opioid crisis has on children’s physical and social-emotional well-being; and 3) continue to provide enhanced targeted trainings to the community and MDT partners regarding the scope of the impact of the opioid crisis on our children and to train professional organizations on how to meet the specific needs of this population.
CA/NCF