Coordinated Community Responses to Domestic Violence in Six Communities: Beyond the Justice System. Issues for Other Agencies and Stakeholders

To begin to address domestic violence among its client population, an agency must first develop screening protocols to identify women who experience battering, and then decide the circumstances under which they will use these protocols. An agency could, for example, decide to use the protocol for every case seeking services of any kind, or any person encountered by the agency (if it is not one where clients come voluntarily). This is the approach of some child protection agencies, and it is the approach that the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Hospitals requires of all emergency rooms (although this is not always followed in practice). Alternatively, an agency could decide only to screen clients seeking particular services (e.g., those coming to the emergency room of a hospital, but not those coming to a variety of other clinics or seeking other services), or clients exhibiting certain patterns of injury or explaining their injuries in unconvincing ways. The only real way any agency will come to understand the full scope of domestic violence in its clientele is to screen everyone, at least at the beginning. It may become clear as the evidence collects that some degree of targeting would be almost as efficient, but any decision to limit screening would then be based on facts rather than on assumptions.

To formulate a broad coordinated response, a range of agencies in a community must work together to identify agency service strengths and weaknesses, as well as complete gaps in the system of available services. Then, these agencies must work out arrangements whereby agencies agree to provide services that they are best at, and to develop and use an efficient and effective referral system to get clients to the best agency to help them. Agencies must also work together to decide which agencies should assume the task of developing new services to fill identified gaps.

The previous discussion raised issues about identifying which types of service each of the agencies did best. In addition to thinking about these types of skills, it is also important to think about where women are most comfortable going, and the context in which they will be most likely to accept and benefit from services. This is particularly pertinent for ethnic and language minority women, who may be best served by agencies in their own communities or that serve primarily women from their ethnic or cultural background. The goal should be that any agency to which a woman turns for help, or which identifies a woman as needing help, should be able to help her without having to send her somewhere else where she may feel culturally alien, or where she may not be ready for the types of services available.

It is important for agencies to recognize that there is a lot to know about working with domestic violence victims, and that using the available expertise of domestic violence providers and advocates can result in better services and save them some needless mistakes. It can also help their staff to feel safe, avert burnout, and learn how to apply abstract principles in concrete cases. At the same time, working together can create new allies rather than perpetuating old antagonisms. In many of the situations we learned about on our site visits, agencies that joined forces with the traditional domestic violence providers found that both grew and learned useful things in the process that improved agency practice in both agencies to better meet the needs of clients.