Moving from Crisis to Compassion: A Coordinated Community Response

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 Child Protect of Mercer County will improve the community response to young survivors of abuse and neglect who are victims of the opioid crisis. The project will address the gaps in services to drug-endangered children and youth from opioids in Mercer County. The project will provide specialized forensic medical exams to child victims and trauma-based therapy. The goals of the project are to improve the community’s capacity to prosecute abuse and neglect and crimes against children; create a community-based visitation center; and provide multidisciplinary training to child-serving professionals. In addition to direct services, Child Protect will disseminate awareness materials specific to medical exams and therapeutic services.

CA/NCF