Children Survivors of the 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 Center For Family Services, Inc. will : (1) offer individual and group counseling to youth impacted by the opioid crisis using evidenced based trauma informed interventions that are designed to treat posttraumatic stress, cope with the resulting impact of the trauma, and empower youth to be survivor; (2) provide community mobile services to impacted youth using the Classroom-Community-Culture Based Intervention, a 12- 15 week group that incorporates play and creativity to help children and teens rebuild a sense of safety and control over their trauma, which will be delivered to the target audience at substance abuse treatment and recovery centers and other human service organizations; (3) provide post-traumatic stress management up to 4 weeks of in-home or on-site at a safe location to youth in the aftermath of a fatal overdose of a parent or sibling; and (4) conduct workshops in the community, as well as for a multidisciplinary audience professionals, that are designed to increase knowledge of the impact of the opioid crisis on children, develop the skills necessary to support children, and increase resources available in the community.

CA/NCF