Acute Service Delivery in a Police-Mental Health Program for Children Exposed to Violence and Trauma

Abstract

The Child Development Community Policing Program represents a national model of community-based collaboration between police and mental health professionals for violence-exposed and traumatized children. Administrative data from clinical records of a 24-hour consultation service were examined through stepwise multivariate logistic regression to identify child and event characteristics associated with a direct, in-person response at the time of police contact. Of 2361 children, 809 (34.3%) received a direct, in-person response. Relative to Caucasian children, Hispanic youth were more likely to receive this form of response (OR = 1.36). An acute clinical response was more likely for incidents of gang involvement (OR = 8.12), accidents (OR = 5.21), felony assaults (OR = 2.97), property crimes (OR = 2.30), family violence (OR = 1.53) and psychiatric crises (OR = 1.29). Acute response was less likely when juvenile conduct problems (OR = 0.61), fires (OR = 0.59), child maltreatment (OR = 0.57), and domestic violence (OR = 0.44) were involved. Incidents that were more severe or involved a primary mental health component were related to utilization of intensive CDCP resources.

Interdisciplinary Knowledge Translation: Lessons Learned from a Mental Health: Fire Service Collaboration

“…There has been growing attention paid to the potential benefits of cross-discipline community-based collaborative efforts to improve access to services and better meet the complex needs of individuals and families (e.g., Alkema et al 2003;Lewandowski and GlenMaye 2002;Marett et al 1998;McElheran et al 2004;Murphy et al 2005). However, the development of empirically-based strategies for effectively promoting these types of collaborations is only in its infancy.…”

“…Collaborative models of service delivery have been used in a variety of contexts to address the needs of children, youth and families. For example, inter-disciplinary collaborations between police and mental health have been used to address the needs of children exposed to violence and other potentially traumatizing events (e.g., the Child Development Community Policing Program, Murphy et al 2005; the Children Who Witness Violence Program, Drotar et al 2003). Similarly, collaborations have been developed between various combinations of health, children's mental health, child welfare, education, and juvenile justice to address the needs of children, youth and families involved in these various systems (e.g., Babyak and Koorland 2001;Emshoff et al 2007;Hernandez and Hodges 2006;Lewandowski and GlenMaye 2002).…”

“…Despite attention to the potential benefits of interdisciplinary community-based collaborative approaches, such as improved access to service and enhanced ability to meet the complex needs of individuals and families (Alkema et al 2003;Lewandowski and GlenMaye 2002;Marett et al 1998;McElheran et al 2004;Murphy et al 2005), the factors that may be important for successful collaboration have not been rigorously examined. Furthermore, it is generally agreed that there are many barriers to crossdiscipline approaches, especially if the disciplines involved differ substantially in organizational culture/philosophy, values and practices (e.g., Alkema et al 2003;Lewandowski and GlenMaye 2002;Olivier and Dykeman 2003;Robillard et al 2003).…”

“…Some of these barriers include value conflicts, lack of respect for the collaborating agencies' knowledge, approach and expertise, lack of clear and effective communication, negative views of other professionals, lack of common goals and unified purpose, and lack of structural supports for collaboration (e.g., Alkema et al 2003;Lewandowski and GlenMaye 2002;McElheran et al 2004;Robillard et al 2003). It has been argued that these barriers can be addressed through communication, relationship-building, and joint educational opportunities (Alkema et al 2003;Delany et al 2003;Foster-Fishman et al 2001;Lewandowski and GlenMaye 2002;McElheran et al 2004;Murphy et al 2005;Olivier and Dykeman 2003;Robillard et al 2003), although the specific factors that may impact efforts to translate innovative collaborative approaches across discipline lines have not been examined.…”

Police–Advocacy Partnerships in Response to Domestic Violence

“…The project grew out of the larger CDCP program, which is a partnership between the New Haven, Connecticut, Department of Police Service and the Yale Child Study Center Marans et al, 1998Marans et al, , 2002Murphy, Rosenheck, Berkowitz, & Marans, 2005). Detectives in the Police Department's Domestic Violence Unit identify households where an incident of IPV has been reported to police.…”