Enhancing Community Responses 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 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 this solicitation 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 the result of the opioid crisis. Projects selected under this solicitation will support service providers in expanding their current scope and expertise to ensure that children and youth—the most vulnerable victims impacted by the opioid crisis—are supported as they heal from the impact of crime and substance abuse.

With this award, the National Children’s Advocacy Center (NCAC) will leverage its longstanding community partnerships to transform responses to children in Madison County, Alabama, who have been placed in extremely vulnerable situations as a result of the opioid crisis and parental substance abuse. To date, the multidisciplinary team has provided robust services to young crime victims, but linkages between parental substance abuse and victimization have gone unaddressed. This funding will enable the NCAC to work with the multidisciplinary team, begin identiying these intersections, assessing unmet needs, and expanding services to ensure these victims are fully served. (CA/NCF)