Addressing the Complexities of Family and Relationship Violence

Inside Addressing the Complexities of Family and Relationship Violence Difficult Reunions: Working with Families to Overcome Abuse Family Violence Encompasses Wide Spectrum of Experiences Youth Workers’ Patience, Open Minds Get Youth to Talk About Family Violence What’s Love Got to Do With It? Stemming Relationship Abuse among Street Youth Using Culture to Say, ‘Violence Is Never Okay’ Who to Call

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For that reason, FYSB has sought to promote collaboration between grantees in the Family Violence Prevention and Services Program and the Runaway and Homeless Youth Program. In 2004, 13 domestic violence prevention programs partnered with runaway and homeless youth providers to conduct projects that ran through early 2006. FYSB funded an additional nine Domestic Violence/Runaway and Homeless Youth grantees in 2005, and the Bureau will announce new awards this year.

One project, a collaboration between the Mid-Atlantic Network of Youth & Family Services, called MANY, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, in Harrisburg, conducted a survey of workers at 54 youth-serving agencies and domestic violence services providers. More than 50 percent of runaway and homeless youth providers surveyed felt “extremely comfortable” addressing intimate partner violence with youth; the remainder reported feeling “rather” comfortable discussing the issue with youth. Still, nearly 40 percent said that in routine screening, they do not ask youth if they have been abused by a girlfriend or boyfriend.

“Most runaway and homeless youth providers screen for [family violence] but not necessarily partner violence,” says Megan Klein Blondin, executive director of MANY.

“The intake form asks what’s going on at home, but youth won’t necessarily relate that to their boyfriend or girlfriend or someone they’ve been intimate with.”

The survey also found that while all runaway and homeless youth providers said they were familiar with local domestic violence providers, 30 percent of domestic violence service providers did not know who provides runaway and homeless youth services in their communities. Klein Blondin adds that most runaway and homeless youth providers know how to get in touch with a domestic violence organization but not with groups dealing specifically with dating violence.

As a result of the survey, the two partner organizations have begun working to create protocols for identifying dating violence among runaway and homeless youth, and they also intend to increase connections between youth service providers and domestic violence providers in Pennsylvania.

“Our family violence and runaway and homeless providers are natural allies,” says Curtis Porter, acting associate commissioner of FYSB. Both separately and together, the Bureau’s programs are creating a safety net for youth at risk of abuse and mistreatment.

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