Children and Adolescents Exposed to Violence

Professional Resource Brief

This brief presents resources about children and adolescents who are exposed to violence as victims or as witnesses in homes, schools, and communities and strategies to prevent or mitigate the physical, psychological, emotional, and social effects. Please view the resource brief Reaching Out to Children and Youth Following Disasters for resources about helping children and adolescents cope with injury, loss, and other trauma caused by violence.

Care, Services, and Support

• View the Community Services Locator: An Online Directory for Finding Community Services for Children and Families, and, in particular, the Family Support and Mental Health Services sections to locate prevention and intervention services for child maltreatment, community violence, dating violence, and domestic violence.
  

Overview

• View the Attorney General's Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence report Defending Childhood: Protect Heal Thrive (2012). This report presents an overview of the problem and recommendations for screening, assessment, and support for children exposed to violence; information about integrating prevention, intervention, and resilience across systems; and a new approach to juvenile justice.
  
  
• For statistics about child and adolescent exposure to violence and differences by age and gender as well as information about effective prevention and treatment programs, view Child Trends' Research Brief Child Maltreatment Databank Indicator.
  

Websites

• Center on the Developing Child. Reports, working papers, research briefs, and multimedia tools that translate and communicate the science of early childhood and early brain development to help inform policies that promote successful learning, adaptive behavior, and sound physical and mental health for all young children. Several resources address the impact that exposure to violence can have on development.
  
  
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Violence Prevention.  Topics on child abuse and neglect, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, youth violence, and resources for action.
  
  Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. Framework, questionnaires, major findings, data and statistics, and publications about one of the largest investigations ever conducted to assess associations between childhood maltreatment and health and well-being later in life.
  
  Guide to Community Preventive Services. Recommendations to Reduce Psychological Harm from Traumatic Events Among Children and Adolescents. Task force recommendations and findings.
  
  Also view the publication series from the National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence, which was supported by CDC and the Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs.
  
  
• Child Exposure to Domestic Violence (CEDV) Scale. Measurement tool and background materials for professionals and researchers to use with children and adolescents ages 10-16 exposed to domestic violence. The School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, Jeffrey L. Edleson, Ph.D.
  
  
• Child Welfare Information Gateway: Impact of Child Abuse and Neglect. Collection of resources about the impact of abuse and neglect on child development and the long-term health, social, and economic consequences of abuse and neglect on children, adolescents, adult survivors, and society.
  
  Child Welfare Information Gateway Library. Information about close to 50,000 publications, including peer-reviewed articles, books, evaluation reports, grantee final reports, and program reports, related to all aspects of child welfare, including child maltreatment.
  
  
• Child Witness to Violence Project (CWVP). Bibliographies and educational materials for professionals who work with children who have witnessed family and community violence and experienced traumatic grief. Includes information for parents and caregivers about understanding the problem, recognizing the signs, and helping children.
  
  
• Futures Without Violence. Program information and resources for improving services for children, youth, and teens exposed to violence.
  
  16 Trauma-Informed, Evidence-Based Recommendations for Advocates Working with Children Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence. (2013).
  
  Facts on Children's Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence. (2013).
  
  Promising Futures: Best Practices for Serving Children, Youth, and Parents Experiencing Domestic Violence. Best practices, evaluation tools, research-informed strategies, and other resources for professionals and advocates to enhance their programming for children and their abused parents, and in particular, mitigate the negative effects of domestic abuse on children.
  
  
• National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC): Youth Initiative. Tools to improve programs, policies, outreach, and services for adolescent victims of crime, particularly adolescents from underserved populations, such as ethnic minorities and adolescents with disabilities. Includes bulletins for adolescents about how to recognize a crime, what emotions to expect, and how to receive or give help. Also includes guides for schools, adolescent organizations, victim service agencies, and other community groups about how to reach out to adolescents and develop ways to make it safer for them to disclose their victimization.
  
  
• National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma and Mental Health. Background reading, webinars, fact sheets, tips, conversation guides, model policies, and other tools for domestic violence advocates, mental health and substance abuse professionals, legal professionals, and policymakers as they work to improve agency- and systems-level responses to the traumatic effects of abuse on survivors and their children.
  
  Tips for Supporting Children and Youth Exposed to Domestic Violence: What You Might See and What You Can Do. (2012).
  
  
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). Resources for families, professionals, schools, and the media about child and adolescent traumatic stress and effective interventions. Includes training tools, information on the various types of trauma, fact sheets on empirically supported treatments for child traumatic stress, information on creating trauma-informed and culturally-competent child-serving systems, and facts and statistics about child traumatic stress. Also offers databases with information about resources, programs, projects, and experts on child traumatic stress; reviews of tools that measure children's experiences of trauma, their reactions to it, and other mental-health- and trauma-related issues; and resources specifically for and about military families and children. Some materials are available in Spanish.
  
  
• Office for Victims of Crime: Information about publications, initiatives, and services for those who work with children and adolescents who have been exposed to and/or experienced violence.
  
  Through Our Eyes: Children, Violence, and Trauma. (2013). [Video clip, resource guide].
  
  
• Bernard van Leer Foundation. 2012. Community Violence and Young Children: Making Space for Hope. Early Childhood Matters: 119. [Journal issue].
  
  
• Federal Partners Committee on Women and Trauma. 2011. Women and Trauma: Report of the Federal Partners Committee on Women and Trauma—A Federal Intergovernmental Partnership on Mental Health Transformation. Washington, DC: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA). This report illustrates the importance of listening to and incorporating the voices of people who have been directly impacted by trauma and describes "trauma-informed care", an approach that can be implemented in any setting and supports resilience, self-care, and self-healing.
  
  
• Goldman Fraser J, Lloyd SW, Murphy RA, Crowson MM, Casanueva C, Zolotor A, Coker-Schwimmer M, Letourneau K, Gilbert A, Swinson Evans T, Crotty K, Viswanathan M. 2013. Child Exposure to Trauma: Comparative Effectiveness of Interventions Addressing Maltreatment. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). [Research review].
  
  
• Jain S, Buka SL, Subramanian SV, Molnar BE. 2012. Protective Factors for Youth Exposed to Violence: Role of Developmental Assets in Building Emotional Resilience. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice: 10(107). [Journal article].
  
  
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). 2011. Addressing the Needs of Women and Girls: Developing Core Competencies for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service Professionals. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. [Report].
  
  
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). 2011. Identifying Mental Health and Substance Use Problems of Children and Adolescents: A Guide for Child-Serving Organizations. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
  

Related MCH Digital Library Resources

• Adolescent Violence Prevention professional resource guide, family resource brief, school resource brief
• Bullying resource brief
• Child Maltreatment resource brief
• Dating Violence Among Adolescents resource brief
• Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Challenges in Children and Adolescents professional resource guide, family resource brief, school resource brief
• Home Visiting resource brief
• Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) professional resource guide, family resource brief
• Life Course and Social Determinants resource brief
• Reaching Out to Children and Youth Following Disasters resource brief
• Social and Emotional Development in Children and Adolescents professional resource guide, family resource brief, school resource brief

Children and Adolescents Exposed to Violence: Resource Brief. (June 2013). (June 2014; Updated May 2024).
Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo, M.L.S., MCH Digital Library.
Reviewers: Jennifer Allison, Ph.D., Children's Safety Network; Sally Fogerty, B.S.N., M.Ed., Children's Safety Network; Rebecca Hunt, M.P.A., Children's Safety Network; Shree Mohanty, M.A., M.S., R.D., L.D., Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Region V; Olivia Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., MCH Digital Library; Morrisa B. Rice, M.H.A., R.E.H.S., R.S., HRSA Office of Women's Health; and Ellen Schmidt, B.S., M.S., O.T.R., Children's Safety Network.
Editor: Ruth Barzel, M.A., MCH Digital Library.