Bridging the divide between child welfare and domestic violence services: Deconstructing the change process

In spite of the long and well-documented history of tension between the domestic violence and child welfare systems in the United States, a number of communities have developed effective collaborations between the two in order to better meet the needs of families involved with both. After setting the historical context for the tensions between providers of child welfare and domestic violence services, the changing relationship between the two systems is examined from the perspective of professionals in both fields in one large urban community, New York City. Recommendations are made for continued progress. Communities seeking to improve their own response to the co-occurrence of domestic violence and child maltreatment may be able to gain from developing a broader understanding of the challenges and successes of the change process in a community which has struggled to improve collaboration.