February 2024Vol. 25, No. 1 Approach Supports Families in Child Welfare Affected by Domestic Violence

There is often an overlap between child welfare and other human service systems. Bridges to Better is an approach that prioritizes cross-system and cross-agency collaboration to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families who are affected by domestic violence and either involved with or at risk of becoming involved with the child welfare system.

Bridges to Better works toward systems change across various sectors by building community networks to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families. The approach has six guiding principles:

1. Collaborate
2. Recognize the interconnected safety and well-being of adult and child survivors
3. Partner with survivors
4. Respond to unique challenges and build on unique strengths
5. Advance racial and gender equity
6. Promote healing and well-being

The Bridges to Better website features information, resources, and training on supporting families who are affected by domestic violence and either involved with or at risk of becoming involved with the child welfare system. One of its main offerings is the “groundwork,” or curated collections of resources, to help service providers, leaders, policymakers, policy advocates, and researchers build survivor-centered systems.

The approach was a result of work by the Quality Improvement Center on Domestic Violence in Child Welfare (QIC-DVCW). It was developed by Futures Without Violence in partnership with the Center for Health and Safety Culture, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and Latinos United for Peace and Equity.