U.S. deputy attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. (seated second from left) spoke at a news conference announcing the Yale-based National Center for Children Exposed to Violence. Also on hand for the event were (from left) New Haven Police chief Melvin Wearing, Yale Child Study Center director Dr. Donald Cohen and Steven Marans, director of the Child Study Centeršs Child Development Community Policing Program, who will head the new National Center for Children Exposed to Violence.

Yale program for children lauded at dedication

Noting the success of the Yale Child Study Center's Child Development Community Policing Program (CDCP), U.S. deputy attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. said the nation could benefit greatly by similar programs elsewhere based on Yale's model. Holder visited Yale May 8 to deliver the inaugural address at the dedication of the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence (NCCEV). The NCCEV, based at the Yale Child Study Center, will provide training and assistance to communities around the country that are seeking to address the problem of children exposed to violence through partnerships between the criminal justice system and mental health professionals. The NCCEV will also work to increase public awareness of the issue and the methods that have been developed to prevent children's exposure to violence and to intervene on their behalf. Holder said the Department of Justice established the NCCEV at the Child Study Center because of the CDCP's success in working with children exposed to violence. Begun in 1991, the CDCP is a model collaboration among Yale faculty members, the New Haven police and juvenile justice personnel. "What we have seen here in New Haven is what we need to see around the country," Holder said. The NCCEV will receive annual funding of $1 million for five years to carry out its mission. The NCCEV will be led by Steven Marans, the Harris Assistant Professor of Child Psychoanalysis and the head of the CDCP. "I can think of no better person to head the center than Dr. Steven Marans," Holder said. "CDCP has benefited countless families and children." Through the CDCP, police and clinicians receive training about each other's work, which helps them serve children exposed to violence more effectively. The CDCP also operates a 24-hour consultation service staffed by a team of mental health clinicians and specially trained officers who respond immediately to the needs of children and families and to requests from officers for consultation. Other intervention strategies and initiatives have been developed and implemented by the program over the years to assist children. As a result of CDCP, children in New Haven who, for example, witness domestic violence are offered help at a time of fear and confusion. "They no longer, in New Haven, only take the facts," said Marans of police officers and others who respond to incidents of violence involving children. Holder said he became aware of the need for collaborative programs like the CDCP when he served as a federal judge and observed that the various agencies that were part of the response to crimes involving young people worked independently of each other. "Each profession held a different piece of the puzzle" of how to work toward preventing violence and mitigating its effects, he said. In calling for greater efforts to aid children who are victims of or witnesses to violence, Holder offered sobering statistics. He said 33% of the victims of violent crimes are young people and that 58% of the victims of forcible rape are juveniles. "The scars are not only physical," he said, noting that childhood victimization is a strong predictor of juvenile and adult criminality. Dr. Donald Cohen, who directs the Child Study Center, said the cooperative achievements of the CDCP in New Haven are evidence that progress can be made in preventing violence aimed at children and intervening successfully on behalf of child victims. "We have a great challenge ahead of us," he said, "but we must be optimistic." The nine communities that will receive training and assistance from the NCCEV are Chicago, Illinois; Baltimore, Maryland; San Francisco, California; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Rochester, New York; Spokane, Washington; Washington County in Maine; Chatham County in North Carolina; and Pinellas County in Florida. 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