IN Handle With Care Project

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 America’s Drug Crisis to support direct services to children and youth who are crime victims as a result of the nation’s addiction crisis.

This award made to Indiana State Department of Health is funded under OVC FY2020 Enhancing Community Responses to America’s Addiction Crisis: Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims. The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) Fatality Review and Prevention Division (FRP) intends to utilize this funding to build the capacity of professionals and agencies serving children and families in Fayette County, as well as the cities of Richmond and Fort Wayne. School-aged children living in the targeted regions experience adverse outcomes, related to trauma resulting from parental substance use. FRP will coordinate training events to improve trauma awareness for local school staff, Department of Child Services, mental health care providers, and law enforcement agencies and create a trauma-informed community, increasing the capacity of the community to appropriate address the needs of at-risk children. Each target area will implement a Handle With Care (HWC) program with the knowledge gained.

CA/NCF