In 2015, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) entered into a formal contractual relationship with the Safe & Together Institute™ for the purposes of adding a domestic violence enhancement to the current child welfare practice model known as MiTEAM. In addition, the MDHHS is supporting certified Safe & Together trainers to provide training and support related to the MiTEAM Domestic Violence Enhancement to all public and private children’s protective services and foster care staff within the state.
Originally, the Safe & Together Model (Model) was designed to help child welfare systems become domestic violence informed. The framework and tools provided by the Model can also be applied to the domestic relations court system to guide decision making involving domestic violence. Both the child welfare and domestic relations court systems have the potential to significantly influence the immediate and long-term safety of adult survivors and their children. Considering the MiTEAM Domestic Violence Enhancement initiative currently underway within the MDHHS, there appeared to be a unique opportunity to move towards bridging these systems – which often work at cross purposes – with the common language, understanding, and approach to domestic violence of the Safe & Together Model.
To explore implementation of the Safe & Together Model in Michigan domestic relations court systems, a statewide pilot project has been launched in three Michigan counties: Kent, Saginaw, and Washtenaw. The project has a three-year span, beginning January 1, 2016, and ending January 1, 2019.
The pilot project is supported by the Justice for Families Grant, which is a discretionary grant provided by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women. This grant is available to states, units of local government, courts, Indian tribal governments, nonprofit organizations, legal services providers, and victim services providers. The purpose of the grant is to improve the response of all aspects of the civil and criminal justice system to families with a history of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking, or in cases involving allegations of child sexual abuse.
Project Goals
The goals of the statewide Safe &Together pilot project are to:
- Fund three local supervised visitation and exchange centers specifically designed to meet the safety needs of domestic violence survivors and their children;
- Implement training on an adapted version of the Safe & Together Model in order to build capacity amongst domestic relations court professionals to better identify battering behavior, assess its impact, and engage in an informed decision-making process that accounts for the safety needs of survivors and their children.
The three local supervised visitation centers providing supervised visitation and exchange services are: the Underground Railroad/SafePlace in Saginaw County; the YWCA/Safe Connections in Kent County; and Washtenaw County’s Catholic Charities/Family Time Program.
Why Use this Model?
The Model is a field-tested best practice model designed to improve competencies and cross-system collaboration related to the intersection of domestic violence and child maltreatment. Although originally designed to help child welfare systems become domestic violence informed, this project utilizes an adapted version of the current model to enhance the ability of those working with domestic relations cases to more effectively identify, assess, and intervene in cases involving domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence.
The Safe & Together Model assists courts in determining the best interests of children by providing tools that help identify patterns of coercive, controlling behaviors such that investigation, assessment, and documentation practices focus on developing a “big picture” of how the pattern of abuse has affected family functioning and child safety. The Model recognizes that:
- Perpetrating domestic violence is a parenting choice;
- Intervening with the perpetrator is a necessary step to increase the safety and well-being of children;
- Perpetrators should be held accountable for the safety and well-being of their children; and
- There is a need to identify and support the survivor’s strengths and safety strategies.
The trainings will take place in the three communities (Kent, Saginaw, and Washtenaw counties), funded to provide supervised visitation and exchange and will be carried out by local trainers certified in the Model.
The new training curriculum for this pilot project is still in the development stage and has not yet been fully implemented. However, in conducting community focus groups and initial trainings to project partners regarding the elements of the Safe & Together Model, feedback has been very positive. Key stakeholders have reported that the framework and tools provided by the Model have been helpful in directing their practice to more effectively account for the safety needs of children and survivors when domestic violence is a factor.
The first training is tentatively planned for early fall 2018. More information regarding the Safe & Together Model can be found here.
For more information regarding this project, please contact Tiffany Martinez, MartinezT3@michigan.gov.
