U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs
Co-Occurrence in At- Risk Families (COAR)

September 10, 2004

Executive Summary
	Domestic Violence and child sexual assault are two of the most under reported and recurring crimes in today’s society. Authorized as California’s first “No Tolerance for Domestic Violence” county by the State Legislature, Konocti County has been at the forefront in its coordinated efforts to comprehensively address these issues for children and families.  Pioneering in child welfare, Konocti County was selected by the California Department of Social Services as a Cohort 1 county to launch Child Welfare Redesign activities.  Additionally, the Konocti Child & Family Services Bureau (CFS) was selected as one of nine jurisdictions nationwide for the $2.5 million Child Welfare System of Care program under the Department of Health & Human Services.
	The “Co-Occurrence in At- Risk Families” (COAR) project will implement a comprehensive, coordinated-service model that evaluates practices and policies to effectively reduce the harmful effects of children’s exposure to sexual abuse (SA) and domestic violence (DV).  The COAR project addresses children and families who have historically been underserved due to lack of evidence necessary to pursue either juvenile or criminal court cases.  COAR targets children with co-occurrence of DV and SA; some of the most complicated cases, often with hard-to-serve families.  The project will identify at-risk families where neither SA or DV allegations were able to be substantiated by the investigating CFS or law enforcement officer and as such not filed on legally, not charged for prosecution, and not further served by the criminal justice or child protection systems.  Additionally, the project will also focus on young children 0-6 years old.  
	COAR will support and accelerate the protection of these children through an innovative and replicable system design.  The design will be implemented through the following goals and objectives:

Goal (1) To implement a coordinated system of integrated services that are specially designed to serve young children with co-occurrence of domestic violence and sexual assault and their families
Objective (1.1). To develop and implement an intensive case management model for children, Objective (1.2). To provide special tools for the non-offending parent to support the child, Objective (1.3). To increase identification and access to intervention programs for children and Objective (1.4). To establish a Children Exposed to Violence (CEV) Review Team to provide consultation and review of cases that remain unsubstantiated after the CIC forensic interview

Goal (2) - To conduct system-wide training for all partner and related agencies led by the First Five Konocti County Commission
Objective (2.1). To train participating agencies for improved screening and identification and Objective (2.2). To train participating agencies for improved response systems

Goal (3) - To provide data and best practices information to support system-wide or California State policy changes to better serve families
Objective (3.1). To conduct policy analysis that addresses No Tolerance’s commitment to serve the target population and ability to serve and follow them at a younger age, Objective (3.2). To track data from closed cases for potential co-occurrence to assist in policy analysis and Objective and (3.3). To develop policy regarding issues affecting the target population

Goal (4) - To increase awareness regarding co-occurrence cases and common service gaps effecting them
Objective (4.1). To integrate project findings into First Five Training Academy and Objective (4.2). To present project findings and information at the Domestic Violence Annual Training Conference or the Advisory Council Against Domestic Violence Conference in 2008.

	The COAR project was developed by Executive Directors and Managers of partner agencies to address urgent child safety issues in Konocti County. After declining for three years consecutively, substantiated child abuse increased to a four-year high in 2001 in Konocti County, while it decreased statewide.  In Konocti County and throughout California, sexual abuse accounts for 5.3% of cases.  In 2003, there were 4,037 total Domestic Violence Reports to law enforcement. Of those reports, 1609 children were present, a 40% prevalence rate. This rate is up from 24% in 2002, and 27% in 2001.
	Additionally, children who come into the system with their non-offending domestic violence parent may not be screened or identified for sexual assault, while children who are referred for sexual assault services may not be screened or identified for domestic violence.  Services are not offered concurrently.  These families with children aged 0 – 6 rarely enter the legal system because witnesses are too young.  Further, due to referral policies, it is estimated that a majority of these families may never receive ongoing services.
	The COAR project will not only address these factors through delivery of innovative services, system changes and cross-agency practices, it will present new data and information regarding young children with co-occurrence of domestic violence and sexual assault; vital information needed for long term service and policy development and change nationally.
	Services for the COAR project will be provided primarily at the Children’s Interview Center (CIC), a collaborative program of Family Violence Solutions (FVS), CFS, Office of the District Attorney, Health Services, and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, and part of a nationwide network of 280 Child Advocacy Centers.  Accredited by the National Children’s Alliance, the CIC has helped to dramatically increase access to services for child abuse victims and their families through a comprehensive approach.
	A leadership collaborative of ten agencies will implement COAR and spearhead the development of best practices and policies for the No Tolerance collaborative and the county.  In addition to the Office of the County Administrator, the COAR leadership collaborative includes First 5 Konocti Children and Families Commission, Konocti Children and Family Services, FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence, Family Violence Solutions, Konocti Children’s Mental Health, the Office of the District Attorney, the Probation Department, the Office of the Sheriff/Coroner, and Community Services.  Academic Survey Research, a nationally recognized non-profit research and evaluation firm will design data collection procedures.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

	Konocti County: Bordering the Konocti Bay, Konocti County is 10 miles northeast of Clear Lake.  With a population of one million (eleventh most populous county in California), Konocti County contains great contrasts from deep poverty to wealth; from rural to urban.  The county’s 733 square miles includes 19 cities.  The county’s three regions—Central, East, and West—are isolated geographically from each other, and range in wealth disparity and child safety risk factors. Children and youth account for approximately 27 percent of Konocti County’s population. The number of children and youth has increased from almost 212,000 in 1990 to over 250,000 in 2000. In 2000, over 70,000 residents (including almost 24,000 children) were living in poverty.  [Konocti Children’s Report Card 2003.]
	Ethnic Diversity: Konocti County residents are 58% white, 18% Latino, 11% Asian, 9% African American, and .4 % American Indian and Alaska Native. Many of the county regions are notably diverse.  In Lakeside (population 100,000), rapidly increasing numbers of Asians (including Chinese, Laotian, Mien, Korean, Vietnamese) and Pacific Islanders (12%) join a large African American (36%) and Latino/Hispanic (26%) population (US Census 2000).  Some East County census tracts are more than 45% Latino.  Parts of West County have populations more than 50% African-American, 43% Latino, and 4% Asian American.
	Immigrants & Languages Spoken: The 2000 Census estimated 180,488 immigrants (36.7%) live in the County. Twenty-six percent (26%) of County residents speak languages other than English at home. Over 50 different languages are spoken while Spanish is the most prevalent, at 7.4%. The remaining prevalent languages are of Asian/Pacific Islander derivation (6.1%) or other (4.5%), including, Korean, Lao, Mien, Russian, Japanese, and Afghan.
	Central County: Target Region - Traditionally Underserved Target Region: Konocti County includes several impoverished neighborhoods including the Mountain Corridor area in Central County.  The COAR program will target primarily Central Konocti County residents (population 459,252), with a focus on families residing in the high-risk Mountain Corridor.  The projected client base includes 22% Latino, 3% Black, 2% Asian, 69% White, 3% Other, and less than 1% American Indian/Alaska Native.  These regions also maintain large populations of diverse and traditionally underserved families and victims.  An estimated 85% of county domestic violence victims are expected to come from low-income households. 
	Cordia, the poorest, largest and most culturally diverse city in Central County, has a very high incidence of domestic violence.  The Mountain Corridor, a10-square-mile area in Cordia, is a culturally diverse, densely populated area.  The area, one of the most impoverished in the Bay Area, is home to approximately 25,000 residents, including many immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, the Philippines, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South Eastern Asia.  Cordia has the second highest crime rate in the county, including interpersonal crimes such as homicide, rape, and aggravated assault.  
	Mountain Corridor’s population growth rate (34%) is nearly twice the County’s rate (18%).  The greatest growth was among the Latino population, which increased by over 319% since 1990.  The poverty rate of Mountain Corridor residents is more than 2 times the County rate.  In several block groups within the Mountain Corridor, the poverty rate is more than 50%.
	Risk Factors & Children Exposed to Violence: In Konocti County, there are multiple and overlaying risk factors that impact the likelihood of a child becoming exposed to violence.  Many of these include poverty, unemployment, substance abuse, and exposure to other forms of violence in the community, and homelessness.  These factors can exacerbate the negative effects of exposure to domestic violence and/or sexual assault for children.  The County utilizes 24 indicators that measure the status of children and families, arranged in four outcome areas: Children are Healthy and Ready for School, Youth are Healthy and Preparing for Adulthood, Families are Economically Self-sufficient, and Families and Communities are Safe  [Konocti Children’s Report Card 2003.]
Community Violence:  Many abused children experience violence in their own neighborhoods, in addition to domestic and family violence.  Children from Lakeside, East County, and the Mountain Corridor neighborhood in Cordia, have to cope with gang-related as well as domestic violence-related homicides.  For example, children at the Coastside Way School in Lakeside, where many of the children are dealing with the loss of a family member due to community violence are served by FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence advocates.  
Prevailing Socio-Economic Conditions:  Like most of the Konocti  Bay Area, Konocti County has a cost of living that is higher than most of California and the country.  The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2002 study, “Out of Reach,” reports that in Konocti County, a person earning the minimum wage of $6.75 per hour would have to work 117 hours a week to be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment.  The high cost of living makes it difficult for low-income families to meet their basic needs without making choices between the necessities of housing, childcare, food, transportation, and health care.  Many families struggle to meet their basic needs, but still earn too much to qualify for meal programs, which are linked to the Federal Poverty Level.  Konocti County includes several neighborhoods listed in the Bay Area’s Most Impoverished Neighborhoods including the Mountain Corridor area in Central County.
Child Disabilities: Learning disabilities and suspicion of learning disabilities is very high among child victims of abuse seen in the Konocti Child Abuse Treatment (KHAT) Program.  The children in the KHAT Program also exhibit a higher percentage of disabling conditions that are related to violence in the home.  Family violence distracts caregivers from attending to the child’s basic health needs such as nutrition, dental and medical care, and sleep. Continuous disturbance of resting patterns can interrupt normal cognitive development.  
Race as a Risk Factor for Victimization: Race is an additional factor that put county residents and children at an increased risk for criminal victimization.  Over 60% of Lakeside residents are people of color, and for Hispanics and African Americans, this increases their likelihood of becoming crime victims.  Hispanics, compared to non-Hispanics were victims of violence at higher rates in 2001.  African Americans also experienced more violent assaults in 2001, than Whites or persons of other races.  In addition, of the 9,726 hate and bias crimes in the United States reported to the FBI, almost 45% were racially based.  
	Lakeside's children and youth, who represent approximately 24% of Lakeside's population, are also at great risk of violence because youth in general have a higher victimization rate than the general population.  Research indicates that high levels of crime and poverty increase the likelihood of children experiencing violence.Recent analysis of the Konocti CWS/CMS data have shown that in Konocti County, African-American children are approximately 2.7 times more likely to be referred to CFS than white or Hispanic children.
Unemployment: With the weakened economy over the past two years, the unemployment rate has increased to 4.9% in the county; a rate lower than the state. However, certain regions like Central County and the Mountain Corridor are harder hit as follows:

	Prevalence of Child Abuse: In Konocti County (CCC) and throughout California, general neglect is the most common type of abuse/neglect, accounting for 37% of all substantiated abuse cases in CCC in 2002.   In Konocti County in 2002, the rate of substantiated child abuse was 8.8 children per 1,000.

Counts of Children with one or more Referrals for Year 2002
	Sexual Abuse	Physical Abuse	Severe Neglect	General Neglect	Exploitation	
Total	117	321	134	829	***	
Percent	5.2%	14.3%	6.0%	37.0%	.2%	
	Emotional Abuse	Caretaker Absence/ Incapacity	At Risk, sibling abused	Substantial Risk	Missing/Other	
Total	76	239	152	371	0	
Percent	3.4%	10.7%	6.8%	16.5%	0	
***Between 1 and 4 (masked to protect confidentiality).Source: Needall, Webster et al. (2003.) Child Welfare Service Reports for California, University of California at Berkeley Center for Social Services Research website.

	Child Abuse & Neglect: After declining for three years consecutively, substantiated child abuse and neglect increased to a four-year high in 2001 in Konocti County, even while it decreased statewide. Locally, the rate of substantiated child abuse increased from 9.6 children per 1,000 in 1998 to 10.1 in 2001. However, it still remains below the statewide rate, which decreased from 11.7 to 10.7 during the same time period.  Physical abuse is the second most common type of abuse accounting for 14.6% of abuse in the county. Caretaker absence or incapacity accounts for 12.4% of cases, followed by emotional abuse accounting for 9.2% and severe neglect accounting for 8.6%.  

	Child Sexual Abuse: Sexual abuse accounts for 5.3% of a total 2458 substantiated cases.  There were 1004 referrals with allegations of sexual abuse recorded in Child Welfare Services/ Case Management System (CWS/CMS) for calendar year 2003. The disposition of these referrals is shown to right: need to move graph so that it drops in here
	Domestic Violence: Domestic violence is defined as intimate partner violence occurring inside or outside the home, which includes violence between spouses, individuals in dating relationships, and former partners or spouses.  As with child abuse and neglect, domestic violence occurs in all socioeconomic groups, and cuts across lines of ethnicity, culture and education. Risk factors include parental substance abuse, social isolation, and the perpetrator or victim parent’s history of experiencing domestic violence as a child.  In households with domestic violence where children are present, children are almost always witnesses to family domestic violence at some point.
	Between 1997 and 2001, there were 17,112 domestic violence related reports entered into the Sheriff’s Domestic Violence Tracking System. 
	Prevalence Rate of Children Who Witness Domestic Violence: The Sheriff’s Domestic Violence Tracking System database tracks prevalence for domestic violence.  In 2003, there were 4037 Total Domestic Violence Reports. Of those report, 1609 children were present, a 40% Prevalence Rate. This rate is up from 24% in 2003, and 27% in 2001.
	Children in Intervention Services: For FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence, almost 50% of FIGHT!’s crisis intervention cases involve children.  Fully 50% of the children who accompany their mothers to FIGHT!’s emergency shelters have been abused. The other 50% are at high risk of becoming victims of abuse at home by acquaintances or strangers.  The following client profile is taken from FIGHT’!s client database:
•	Income Level: 86% very low income, 12% low income, 2% middle income and above
•	Racial/Ethnic Composition: 44% African American, 33% White, 13% Latina/o, 4% Asian, 6% Other
•	Age Composition: 30% from 0–17, 59% from 18–54, 11% at 55 and up
•	Gender: 82% female, 18% male 
	Research is needed that advances the current understanding of the prevalence and effects of the co-occurrence of childhood exposure to domestic violence, sexual assault and other types of co-occurrences, and the impact of resilience and risk factors, so that policymakers and practitioners can design interventions that sufficiently address the size, nature, and complexity of the problem. This is what the COAR project will launch as a first step for the county.
	Target Population: Konocti’s Most Vulnerable Children - Today, domestic violence is recognized as a serious societal problem in the United States. Yet, children in families in which such violence occurs have remained largely invisible as victims.  This fact is even more magnified for children who are sexually assaulted or very young.  Research suggests that between 3.3 million and 10 million children in the United States are exposed to interparental violence each year. And more than a decade of empirical studies indicates that this exposure can have significant negative effects on children’s behavioral, emotional, social, and cognitive development; and threaten their ability to survive before the age of two.
	Domestic Violence & Child Abuse: Like other regions, social service agencies in Konocti County are faced with the complication that many families in which domestic violence is present struggle with multiple problems, including poverty, substance abuse, and exposure to other forms of violence.  For example, current research indicates that in 30% to 60% of families experiencing either domestic violence or child maltreatment, the other form of violence is also present.
	Estimates of the number of abused children who live in homes where their mothers are also being physically abused vary. For example, child protection workers in the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (Hangen, 1994) reported statewide that an average of 32.48% of their cases also involved domestic violence.  A somewhat higher estimate was obtained in Straus and Gelles' 1985 national survey of over 6,000 American families (Straus & Gelles, 1990). They found that 50% of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently physically abused their children. They also found that "the rate of child abuse by those [mothers] who have been beaten is at least double that of mothers whose husbands did not assault them" (p. 409).  Walker's (1984) study of 400 battered women also revealed that 53% of the fathers and 28% of the mothers physically abused their children.
	A 1998 review indicated that between 45% and 70% of children exposed to domestic violence are also victims of physical abuse, and as many as 40% of child victims of physical abuse are also exposed to domestic violence.
	Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault: In operation for six years, Children’s Interview Center data shows correlation between child sexual assault and domestic violence families. This was a major impetus in the development of the COAR project.  
	Children in households with domestic violence are found to be at higher risk for sexual abuse than children in nonviolent households.  In families where the mother is assaulted by the father, daughters are at risk of sexual abuse 6.51 times greater than girls in non-abusive families (Bowker, Arbitell and McFerron, 1988)
	Complications of Co-Occurrence: Problems in relation to the nature of child sexual abuse makes it perhaps harder to prove than any other crime.  However, the problems in this area are not only problems about evidence.  Child sexual abuse cases present many challenges to providers.  As a rule, sexual abuse is a private act, without witnesses, which leaves no physical evidence (Bays & Chadwick, 1993; Faller, 1996; Myers, Gordon, Pizzini, Saywitz, Stewart, & Walton, 1994). Decisions about the likelihood of sexual abuse usually come down to a child’s word against an adult’s (Faller, forthcoming). Often sexually abused children are at a disadvantage because they lack adult communication skills, don’t know what to do when they are sexually abused, and are under the power and control of the offender.  	
	Focus on 0-6years old: Cases involving young children are especially problematic because children under 5 or 6 years of age do not have the linguistic skills, knowledge and capacity for accurate expression to articulate precisely what has happened to them.  Cases where investigation or other evidence indicates that the allegations are without foundation or where they indicate the likelihood that they have validity are most likely to fall out of the system at a much earlier point, a more critical time in a child’s development.
	Consequently, for the young domestic violence/sexual assault victim, the chances of becoming identified and entering the system for services are lower than just about any other group.  Konocti County’s most vulnerable population may be the least likely to receive appropriate ongoing services without a multi-disciplinary strategy to coordinate multiple systems and jurisdictions to reach them.  
	Meeting Regional Needs: These factors are a daily reality for Konocti agencies.  They are facing a great deal of overlap between the populations served by child welfare agencies and battered women's programs, especially from the Central County region.  Of the 2400 substantiated cases of child abuse and the 1600 reported cases of “children present during a domestic violence incident,” agencies serving these children like FIGHT, Family Violence Solutions, Children’s Interview Center, Child & Family Services are many times working with the same families at one point in time.
	Current domestic violence services reach only a small percentage of children exposed to domestic violence, and are typically not designed with the specific needs of abused or sexually assaulted children in mind.
	Serving Vulnerable Children: Due to the nature of this at risk population of children, the County is determined to address system gaps through the COAR project to bring these children into services. While the COAR project will serve many children, including siblings, the main target population includes children who have been sexually assaulted, witnessed domestic violence, and do not meet the standards for involvement of CFS or for filing criminal charges.  	One COAR remedy for children’s inability to make their case is multidisciplinary collaboration.  Co-occurrence in many families of child maltreatment and domestic violence has resulted in greater willingness on the part of CFS staff and domestic violence service providers to work together.  Collaborative efforts to date have identified beliefs common to both systems: (1) the presence of domestic violence in families is harmful to children, (2) the safety of the mother affects the safety of the child, and (3) perpetrators must be held accountable.  
	The COAR project will integrate child welfare, sexual assault and domestic violence services in the county.  Approaches include screening for domestic violence in all child maltreatment cases, having battered women’s advocates to provide case consultation to workers and domestic violence services to families, and cross-field training for both service providers.
	Definition - Exposure to Violence - 	For the purposes of the COAR project and the specified COAR target population and other children served through the COAR collaborative, the definition of “exposure” is in terms of direct victimization (e.g., child abuse, neglect, and maltreatment) and indirect victimization (witnessing domestic violence).  The COAR project utilizes a combined approach to appropriately respond to the high levels of co-occurrence of direct and indirect exposure for the target population and effectively maximizes resources to respond comprehensively to these forms of exposure.  Children who witness intimate partner violence of their parent and are sexually assaulted clearly meet the definition of exposure.
	Community Resources: Konocti County has put in place a strong response to child abuse and family violence.  Key strengths and resources are outlined below:
	No Tolerance: The Board of Supervisors’ “No Tolerance for Domestic Violence” Initiative (No Tolerance) is a multi-jurisdictional partnership, designed to reduce domestic and family violence and elder abuse in Konocti County. The initiative is a comprehensive, coordinated and community-wide approach to interrupt the progressive cycle of violence and has been very successful at building a cohesive integrated system among criminal justice, human service and health programs through the development of specialized and co-located domestic violence advocates in district agencies.  (See MOU for history of No Tolerance).  The COAR project will constitute a Phase II component of the overall mission of the No Tolerance initiative and will expand the range of expertise of its collaborative partners to increase child safety.  
In Konocti County, the Board of Supervisors invited county departments and local experts to develop a collective vision for No Tolerance and provided approximately $1.8 million annually dollars to launch the initiative.  Partners provide an additional $1,000,000 of their individual operating budgets.
Collaborative Oversight – Over the past 13 years, the county has developed a comprehensive community response to domestic violence. This response evolved into the creation of the Konocti County Advisory Council Against Domestic Violence (ACAD). The Council is comprised of more than 39 agency directors and representatives and appointed community members to advise the Board of Supervisors in policy leadership.  ACAD has developed many protocols including the Domestic Violence Law Enforcement Protocol, a Medical Facilities Protocol, and much more.  In 1998, it established the Domestic Violence Death Review Team.  The Violence Prevention Coalition a coalition of community members also supports the county.  Lastly, to coordinate consistency of responses throughout 23 different jurisdictions, the Police Chief’s Association has developed domestic violence protocols since 1994 and conducts continuous reviews.  The county maintains partnerships in a strong countywide coordinated network of agencies that focuses on ensuring that child victims get access to critical and long-term support.  Child welfare staff has taken many steps towards engaging community partners and working with them to define and implement programs that support community goals.  Listed below are highlights of this extensive collaborative history:
Child Welfare Redesign Efforts: Konocti County was selected by the California Department of Social Services as a Cohort 1 county to launch Child Welfare Redesign activities.  District office staff regularly holds meetings with community members, nonprofit and other agency staff to define service needs and develop support.  To date, nine new contracts with small community based agencies have been implemented to support community identified needs.
	Child Welfare System of Care: The Konocti Child & Family Services Bureau was selected as one of nine jurisdictions nationwide for the five-year, $2.5 million Child Welfare System of Care federal program.
The Children’s Interview Center: A collaborative project of Family Violence Solutions, Children and Family Services, the Health Department, the Office of the District Attorney, and local law enforcement agencies, it was founded in January 1998 to provide children with a safe, child-sensitive place to report crimes of child sexual abuse, the Children’s Interview Center (CIC) has led to the prosecution or pleading guilty of a much higher percentage of perpetrators.  Accredited by the National Children’s Alliance, the CIC is part of a nationwide network of 280 Child Advocacy Centers that have helped to dramatically increase access to services for child abuse victims and their families through a comprehensive approach to services.
Data on the CIC indicates that dramatically improved evidence collection has led to an increase in case filings by the DA and more guilty pleas by perpetrators.  Prior to the CIC’s opening just a fraction (less than 6%) were filed by the DA’s Office.  The CIC’s success stems from the strength of its multi-disciplinary team whose members participate in the interview of each child via a one-way mirror and an earpiece worn by the interviewer.  The team includes a law-enforcement representative, Child and Family Services (CFS) worker, Deputy District Attorney, interviewer, CIC Team Leader, and, if required, community care licensing.
	The resources of the CIC will support the development of the COAR project due to the provision of a state of the art facility, existing operations management, centralized reception area, forensic and medical resources, security, and on line database links to medical and law enforcement systems.  By serving COAR families at the CIC, the infrastructure development and establishment of COAR is accelerated.  Additionally, because major partners are already co-located at the site, the collaborative agency model is supported through existing co-location procedures.
	The current purpose of the CIC is to (1) conduct child-sensitive forensic interviews of children who allege sexual abuse in order to minimize trauma to the child and provide quality evidence to the authorities (law enforcement, District Attorney’s Office, and CPS workers) who are investigating the abuse and working to remove perpetrators from the community and, (2) connect children and their families to services that support the healing process.  Through the COAR project, this purpose will expand to also include appropriate cases that involve children exposed to Domestic Violence. 
	The Konocti Child Abuse Prevention Council (CAPC) has been active for many years.  Begun originally as a Council reporting directly to the County Administrator in the late 1970’s, it became an independent non-profit several years later.  The CAPC provides coordination of services including the Child Death Review Committee, the Multidisciplinary Training and Education Committee and the Children’s Sexual Abuse Interview Center Advisory Committee. 
	FIGHT!’s Children’s Counseling Services and Youth Prevention Education: Fight! Against Domestic Violence provides clinical children’s counseling services to over 200 children and prevention education to more than 1,000 middle and high school students annually in CCC through its award winning school-based violence prevention program.  FIGHT! also provides anger management and conflict resolution education for youth.  FIGHT!’s children's services include: licensed childcare program at the Margaret Lesher Transitional Housing Center; case management and individual clinical counseling for children in residential services.  FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence has established cooperative relationships with several agencies involving children's advocacy and protection.  FIGHT! works with the County’s Mental Health Services, District Attorney’s (DA) Office, Sheriff’s Department, and numerous local law enforcement agencies, and conducts annual domestic violence training for these agencies.  FIGHT! has an extensive collaborative relationship with Child and Family Services (CFS), the county’s children’s protective services agency.  FIGHT! and CFS established a work group to design domestic violence protocols and training for CFS staff.  
The Child Abuse Treatment (KHAT) Program was established in 1998 with Office of Criminal Justice funding.  FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence has established cooperative relationships with several agencies involving children's advocacy and protection.  FIGHT! works with the County’s Mental Health Services, District Attorney’s (DA) Office, Sheriff’s Department, and numerous local law enforcement agencies, and conducts annual domestic violence training for these agencies.  FIGHT! has an extensive collaborative relationship with Child and Family Services (CFS), the county’s children’s protective services agency.  FIGHT! and CFS established a work group to design domestic violence protocols and training for CFS staff.  
	Youth Relationship Violence Prevention program has collaborative alliances with the following agencies and organizations: East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, Mount Cobb Unified School District, San Ramon Unified School District, Mount Cobb Council of PTAs, Center for Human Development, Community Wellness & Prevention Program’s Violence Prevention Project, Violence Prevention Network, local businesses, local law enforcement, and Safe and Drug-Free Task Force.
	Community Projects: The Mountain Corridor Partnership is the original group of Mountain Corridor residents and community-based organizations convened in 1998. It develops and implements plans to meet needs of families in Mountain Corridor. The Mountain Corridor Family Violence Subcommittee is co-chaired by David Lee, FIGHT! maintain a MOU to operate the KHAT program.  
	The Stepping Stones Counseling Center provides treatment services to hundreds of children.  Services include individual therapy; psycho-educational group therapy; a newly developed parent education program for parents of child sexual abuse victims, and clinical consultation to professionals throughout the community.  More than 80% of child and youth clients have shown statistically significant improvement in their functioning and behavior as a result of treatment.  The Family Empowerment Program, a part of Stepping Stones, provides intensive, in-home case management, treatment, and advocacy for families impacted by the discovery that one or more of their young members has been sexually abused.
	Sexual Assault Response Team (SART): FVS was the first rape crisis organization in the state to coordinate the SART, a coordinated, compassionate response to victims of sexual assault and abuse. The SART expanded to respond to teens and children shortly thereafter.  While the CIC’s new pediatric forensic examination facility will conduct medical exams on non-acute cases, the SART will continue to work with acute cases of reported sexual abuse.  The SART assists victims of sexual violence to navigate the traumatic reporting and evidence-gathering processes that follows a reported incidence of rape or sexual abuse by utilizing a multidisciplinary team consisting of trained forensic examiners and advocates.
	Konocti Child and Family Services (the county’s children’s protective services) has 2 full-time Domestic Violence Liaisons.  According to progress reports, the DV Liaison position has had a tremendous positive impact for both clients and social work staff, as their duties become more fully integrated into the protocols for serving abused and neglected children and their families.   The DV Liaisons offer	 case consultations, assesses the lethality of potentially violence situations and helps link victims and children with critical shelter, counseling and other supportive services.  In addition, an array of other services are available to parents, children and youth of the county, including: Adoption Centers, Family Enhancement Collaboration, Parent Aides, Independent Living Skills Program for youth are supported through CFS.  Child and Family Services has also been a key player in Konocti’s Spirit of Caring Initiative, a federally funded mental health children’s system of care that has been in operation for the past three years. As part of the Spirit of Caring Initiative and CFS’ own System Redesign initiative, all of the key players within a system of care are already participating in collaborative service delivery, and the necessary apparatus of MOUs, protocols, referral mechanisms is already in place..
	The First 5 Konocti Children and Families Commission was established in September 1999 to allocate Proposition 10 funds in Konocti County.  The Commission’s 18 members, in collaboration with parents, the child care community, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and children’s advocates, set local priorities and distribute grants to support the healthy development of Konocti’s young children and families. In addition to serving as a grant-maker, the Commission also supports an active advocacy and policy agenda, provides public education about the importance of the early years, and convenes individuals and agencies to develop more effective, integrated services for families.  The commission allocated more than $8.4 million in 2002–2003 to programs that benefit children and families in the community.  First Five also funds a home visiting programs that reaches 2,500 families.  They fund and train them and also have a partnership with the CC Regional Medical Center for Public Health Nurses to conduct home visits.
	Current Gaps in Services - Different factors have led to battered women's shelters, family preservation programs, and child protection programs to develop independently in Konocti County. This has led to fragmentation in delivery of services to battered women and abused children.  However, through collaborations over the past five years, memorandums of understanding, Child Welfare Redesign and leadership pioneered through No Tolerance, the COAR partner agencies are poised to integrate their services and address the system gaps identified below:
	Children Need to be Identified: The first challenge that Konocti is confronting is the ability to identify children who are victims of co-occurring sexual abuse and domestic violence and once identification has been made, ensuring that the child and non offending parent are linked to ongoing services. Service provision is often limited by legal mandates. Children who live in battered women’s shelters and whose mothers seek legal or community-based assistance in coping with family violence constitute obvious subgroups of the larger population of children affected by domestic violence. Yet, these sources account for a small fraction of the more than three million children annually estimated to witness acts of domestic violence.  Other sectors of this population are “hidden” in families that do not self-identify. Complicating the identification process is the veil of secrecy that surrounds violence in families. For sexual assault agencies, when children are brought for services, screening for the presence of domestic violence has not been routine. Therefore, professionals often fail to detect that exposure to domestic violence is a contributing factor to the child’s difficulties. Similarly, for domestic violence programs, children are not screened for most child abuse and particularly not sexual abuse. 	Many cases that are reported to CFS are unsubstantiated and often not referred to other agencies that could potentially identify a child. The COAR project will address identification through cross-agency referrals, through new identification and assessment co-occurrence protocols, and training.
	Children Need Increased Access to Intervention Programs: In general, domestic violence shelters provide far more services to women than they do for children.  They also do not possess the professional resources to provide services for many abused children.  Children who are receiving services for sexual assault who have not been identified for domestic violence miss the essential services to address the prevalent violence and danger in their homes. Each case, while not identified for co-occurrence, does not adequately access comprehensive services to address their critical needs.  In the COAR project, once these children are identified, professionals must then assess the needs of each individual family to determine whether intervention is necessary, and if so, which services are appropriate. Increased identification leads to increased access for these children.
	Children Need Quality & Integrated Services: In Konocti County, there are currently few if any integrated domestic violence/sexual abuse treatment services for children. FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence and Family Violence Solutions operate their Child Abuse Treatment (KHAT) program through a Memorandum of Understanding. However, their services are not offered concurrently. The COAR project will signify the first systematic design to integrate these services and others to target co-occurrence children.
	Increased need for services:  Despite the county’s current child and adolescent services for victims of abuse and neglect, there is an increased need for additional children’s clinical counseling services.  The KHAT program currently has a waiting list of children needing services.  To meet this need, the Konocti KHAT program will expand its current program to provide treatment, victim/witness, and judicial proceedings services to additional child victims.  The KHAT program will also expand its capacity by providing school based therapy groups to underserved children in East counties.
	Limited Case Conferencing: In the County, there is limited case conferencing. This has been recommended by the Domestic Violence Death Review team to enhance multi-disciplinary team (MDT) efforts.  The Review Team recommended a professional and regionally developed MDT model.  Case conferencing now occurs infrequently, informally, among law enforcement, the District Attorney, domestic violence advocates, and social services.  Standardization would increase coordination across jurisdictions with disparate procedures, law enforcement cultures, and demographics.
	Services for Age Appropriate Cognitive Development: A majority of the studies on children exposed to domestic violence do not demonstrate recognition of important developmental issues, including: (1) an appreciation for the whole child across multiple aspects of functioning, (2) sensitivity to the developmental stage of the child and skills appropriate for that stage, and (3) acknowledgment of the importance of tracking functioning across time. Most of the services for these children do not consider age as a variable in their case management planning. The Children’s Interview Center has identified this as an important service gap, which will be addressed by the COAR project.
	Non-Offending Parents Need Special Tools: Many battered women and their children face major hurdles as they attempt to create a life that is violence free.  A recent study by Sullivan and her colleagues in Michigan (Tan et al., in press) found a strong relationship between the mother's social support and her psychological well being. Similarly, Mitchell and Hodson (1983) found that battered women with more social support experienced less severe mental health problems in the aftermath of violence.
	Tan et al. (in press) also found that battered women who received advocacy services expanded their social support networks to a greater degree than did battered women who did not receive advocacy services. In the same vein, Syers-McNairy's (1990) study of battered women who had left their abusers found that multiple forms of social support - including financial, social service, legal help, informal social networks, and the woman's own personal skills - played major roles in facilitating women's successful adaptation after leaving a violent partner.
	Currently, FIGHT is the only agency that provides comprehensive parental support resources for non-offending domestic violence parents. However, parents of co-occurrence children require special tools to support their children.  Family preservation, child welfare, and battered women's programs find common ground when they agree that preserving the mother-child unit in the aftermath of violence is, in most cases, a desired outcome. Consequently, expanding services at other agencies to support the parent is needed. Similarly, non offending mothers whose children have been victims of incest need both support and education so that they can appropriately respond to the needs and well being of both their children who have been victimized and those who have not.
		Safety Planning: Joint safety planning for the non-offending parent and children is needed cross-agency. 
	Agencies Need Training: Many child service agencies, first responder agencies and mandated reporters in Konocti County need training on identification, assessment and response for children at risk.  Training on domestic violence and in protocol use would enhance the effectiveness of new protocols developed by the COAR project.  The First 5 Konocti Family Commission will spearhead the development of training information and implementation.   A critical limitation to current domestic violence training curriculum is that, for the most part, it targets only providers who treat adults. 
	Data Collection is Needed: To develop long-term system-wide changes, more local case data is required. Agencies need funding to take inventory of old cases for co-occurrence and risk factors as well as adequately track data in current cases for potential co-occurrence.  Currently, in Konocti County, there is no central location or agency that tracks all child sexual assault cases, in home and out of home.
	Coordination & COAR Partners  - Authorized as California’s first “No Tolerance for Domestic Violence” county by the State Legislature, Konocti County has been at the forefront in its coordinated efforts to comprehensively address these issues for children and families.  Pioneering in child welfare, Konocti County was selected by the California Department of Social Services as a Cohort 1 county to launch Child Welfare Redesign activities.  Additionally, the Konocti Child & Family Services Bureau was selected as one of nine jurisdictions nationwide for the $2.5 million Child Welfare System of Care program.
	The “Co-Occurrence in At- Risk Families” (COAR) project will involve implementing a comprehensive, coordinated-service model that evaluates practices and policies to effectively reduce the harmful effects of children’s exposure to sexual abuse and domestic violence.  
	A leadership collaborative of ten agencies will implement COAR and spearhead the development of best practices and policies for the No Tolerance collaborative and the county.  In addition to the Office of the County Administrator, the COAR leadership collaborative includes First 5 Konocti Children and Families Commission, Konocti Children and Family Services, FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence, Family Violence Solutions, Konocti Children’s Mental Health, the Office of the District Attorney, the Probation Department, the Office of the Sheriff/Coroner, and Community Services.  Academic Survey Research, a nationally recognized non-profit research and evaluation firm will design data collection procedures.

Project Design

	Innovation: The innovation of the COAR project is due to the mere fact that there is limited research and services targeting the co-occurrence of domestic violence and sexual assault as it relates to the inter-generational cycle of abuse.
	There is extensive research on the causal relationship between children exposed to domestic violence (DV) and their adult domestic violence relationships.  For example, research has demonstrated that children who witness DV or experience sexual assault are more likely to raise female children who are victims of DV or sexual assault (SA).   Male children who witness DV or experience SA are more likely to become perpetrators of either or both.  Therefore, both factors must be considered to end this cycle of violence: children as victims, adults as victims and perpetrators.
	Regarding co-occurrence, COAR directors have observed and serviced many cases where mothers who have experienced child sexual abuse or witnessed domestic violence as children are now adult victims of domestic violence with their children.  This issue was a major factor in the development of the COAR project design, recognizing the larger cycle of violence as inter-generational, and consequently a factor in treatment planning.  The COAR project will utilize early intervention to interrupt the dysfunctional, learned behaviors in the cycle of violence for children as well as for their parents.
	A Shared Vision: The goal of the COAR project is to forge a comprehensive, integrated, Continuum of Care for children with co-occurrence of domestic violence and sexual assault and their families. The project provides a framework through which Konocti communities can design comprehensive, community-based responses that include protections for victims and effective and enforceable legal interventions.  The project will be implemented through the following goals and objectives:

Goal (1) To implement a coordinated system of integrated services that are specially designed to serve young children with co-occurrence of domestic violence and sexual assault and their families
Objective (1.1). To develop and implement an intensive case management model for children 
Objective (1.2). To provide special tools for the non-offending parent to support the child 
Objective (1.3). To increase identification and access to intervention programs for children 
Objective (1.4). To establish a Children Exposed to Violence (CEV) Review Team to provide consultation and review of cases that remain unsubstantiated after the CIC forensic interview	
	Summary: Based at the Children’s Interview Center, the COAR case management model includes services which range from intensive interventions to long-term contact/follow-up.  
Components of the COAR Approach:
1.	State of the Art Locale
2.	Cross-Agency Oversight & Consultation and Case Conferencing
3.	Comprehensive Wraparound Services for children (primarily after school/evenings)
4.	Wraparound Services & Safety Planning for the Non Offending Parent (primarily after school/evenings)
5.	Early Identification & Early Response
6.	Case Individualization
7.	Long term follow up (including in-home/at-school visits)
	The COAR program is a comprehensive psychosocial service and saturation model, with many collaborations and partnerships available under one roof.  Its management includes the cross-agency oversight of service agencies in an Executive Team.   The COAR project also ambitiously establishes the CEV Review Team to locate and coordinate at risk cases for earlier identification, especially those where the disclosure during the forensic interview was too vague to support legal intervention yet suspicious enough to raise concerns. Follow up on unsubstantiated sexual assault cases increase access to services for younger children and ultimately prevent further victimization. Once identified, each case plan is developed individually for maximum treatment effectiveness and long term participation. 	
	The innovation of the treatment plan addresses comprehensive wraparound services for the child and includes wraparound for the parent.  The COAR project brings a new focus to sexual assault treatment that addresses the inter-generational domestic violence cycle for the first time for No Tolerance.  All of these project components will be designed with long term (24 - 48 months) care in mind.
	Locale: Because the majority of children exposed to domestic violence do not have access to services through traditional avenues such as battered women’s shelters, COAR is a new strategy for identifying and serving these children in another more child friendly venue, the Children’s Interview Center. COAR is a site-based model co-located with the Children’s Interview Center to add to the continuum of care.  The CIC would be available to interview children in domestic violence cases when appropriate under the COAR program.  See comprehensive description of the CIC under “Community Resources.”
	Cross-Agency Consultation and Oversight: The cross agency consultation and oversight is provided through the COAR management plan which includes a Steering Committee with all agency participants and an Executive Team of participant child service agencies. See Management Plan for details on the Cross-Agency Oversight.
	Wraparound: The philosophy of Wrap-around is based on the assumption that negative behaviors are usually related to underlying unmet needs, and successfully meeting those needs will normally result in reduction or elimination of negative behaviors. The COAR project provides multiple services to the parent and child that also include meeting basic needs as follows:
	Services for Children: A first goal of therapeutic intervention is promoting open discussion of the children’s experiences. Many parents and professionals assume that it is better for the child not to dwell on the disturbing event(s), and to try to forget. The intensity of the child’s terror, however, obviates the possibility of “forgetting.” For many children, the process of retelling or reenacting a traumatic event in the safety of a therapeutic relationship is in itself a healing experience, and a first step toward integrating the experience into their understanding of themselves and their world. In addition, the process of “breaking the silence” and speaking openly about the violent events serves to reduce the children’s senses of isolation, which allows them to begin emotional healing.
	Second, therapists will seek to help children understand and cope with their emotional responses to the violence, while promoting their acquisition of positive behavior patterns. Strategies include assisting children with understanding why their parents fight and helping them to realize that the fighting is not their fault, and that they are not responsible for managing it. With older children, groups may also discuss violence in personal relationships, and address anger management and the use of conflict-resolution skills.
	Third, interventions plan to reduce the symptoms that the children are experiencing in response to the violence. This approach will strive to help the child to link the problematic symptoms to the exposure to violence, and to teach specific strategies for managing and decreasing symptoms.
	Group Therapy for young kids (age appropriate): COAR group programs can offer children a safe venue in which to talk about the violence, improve self-esteem, and develop safety skills.  Through a long-term therapeutic relationship, the COAR project encourages the development of trust over time between staff and families. COAR will also provide child/parent joint therapy when appropriate. 
	COAR staff will conduct an educational needs assessment to monitor and assess the developmental progress of the child. A play therapy space will be set up for kids at the CIC. Therapeutic childcare will be made available to support and assess their developmental growth.  Children will also have access to art therapy activities, recreational activities, wellness health checks, and in-home or at-school visits.  Through matching resources from FIGHT, children will have basic needs addressed: access to food, healthcare, and some transitional housing.
	Services for Parents: Services will be made available to help non-offending parents improve interactions and support their children.  COAR will provide group therapy, where staff can meet regularly with non-offending parents to help them build better parenting skills and adopt healthy ways to handle difficult behaviors in their children.  Issues of neglect, such as medical, dental, nutritional and academic needs will be addressed with parents, and solutions to these problems are identified.  Parents are then supported in their efforts to incorporate these solutions into their lives, enabling them to provide a healthier living environment for their children.
	Through wraparound services, COAR offers the parent with many opportunities to receive help in decision-making.  Because of the domestic violence, the mother’s coping and decision making is dealt with directly. Through matching resources from FIGHT, services available to the non-offending parents will include job counseling, money management, community dinners, access to basic needs, transportation vouchers, thrift store vouchers, etc.  Resources from workforce services are also a part of the COAR program with job placement resources.  FVS will include their parent education curriculum program and Non-Offending Parent group/assertiveness training as well. Through these services, COAR targets assisting the parent to assist the child and improve overall family functioning.	
	Offending parents: FIGHT also maintains services to reduce recidivism for offending domestic violence parents, which will be accessible.
	Response: Children who exhibit problematic behavior may receive inappropriate treatment because professionals are unaware of the cause of their symptoms. To respond properly to these children, the COAR project will include implementation guidelines for screening and responses if a child discloses co-occurrence.
	Incentives: The directors have considered multiple incentives to keep families participating in the COAR program or in the control group. These include providing Coffee "klatches," food vouchers, family event vouchers (i.e. movies), etc.
	Identification for Intervention: Cases can be referred for COAR from Child & Family Services, law enforcement, Family Violence Solutions, and FIGHT.  In addition, those children with unsubstantiated allegations of sexual abuse following a CIC forensic interview will be referred to the team for further assessment and service.  These are complicated cases.  For the 0-6 years old population with child sexual abuse (too young to be a witness in court) there is rarely a criminal case.
	A key aspect of the COAR project is to respond to the situation during the first six months (crisis phase).  The more intensive work with parents at a closer time to the violent incident, the lower the rate of recidivism.
	Children Exposed to Violence (CEV) Review Team: The COAR leadership collaborative will also compose the Children Exposed to Violence (CEV) Review Team. Team members will include the Executive Directors and Managers from FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence, Family Violence Solutions, Konocti Children’s Mental Health, and Children and Family Services.  Team members will meet every other month to provide consultation ,review, and case coordination for  new cases. 
	Screening Protocols: The COAR project will establish screening protocols for co-occurrence.  When a child is referred to the COAR program, clinical staff will respond within 24 hours.  The initial phone call will include an assessment of services needed and may include some crisis intervention and/or immediate referrals to other county services or community based organizations.  In some cases, children and family members will initially meet with a therapist at the location of the crisis response or appointments will be set and kept at a variety of accessible FVS or FIGHT sites throughout the county.  The family and therapist will determine any further contact.
	Individualization: Each child and family is unique: therefore, services and supports need to be tailored to meet the individual needs of each child and family served.  COAR families will receive a comprehensive assessment and an individualized service plan with input from all members of the COAR staff. Staff will create individualized solutions that build on team-member strengths and that utilize or create community-based resources. Strength based assessment tools are used.  The plan will be developed within 6 to 8 weeks of being assessed by the COAR staff.  Components include a family care plan and child and risk assessments:
	Family Care Plan: Each family will be interviewed by a case manager and evaluated for appropriateness of participation; and if admitted to COAR, will develop a complete "care plan." This care plan will outline every activity the family will be involved in including the offender's plan (FIGHT! services, etc.)  If a clear plan for reunification or current co-habitation is desired, it will be outlined.  All COAR agencies, especially CFS and Probation will be involved in developing and holding offenders to the plan.  Participant families will sign off on their intent to comply/participate and have a voice in developing the overall plan.  After 6 months and successful completion of objectives set forth in Care Plan, mid-graduation will occur and lesser services can be offered with a mentorship component for families.
	Child Assessment: All youth will receive a comprehensive assessment from a team which will include the Case Manager, a therapist, the Team Leader, and a family advocate.  The assessment will include the following domains:
•	Family context: including both strength and risk factors.
•	Educational status: Including grades and truancy;
•	Behavioral issues: Including juvenile justice involvement and school behavior;
•	Mental health assessment: In addition to a general comprehensive mental health assessment, this process will address
•	issues of trauma, separation anxiety, and other conditions that may arise from the abuse/neglect or the subsequent
•	foster care interventions. For youth who suffered physical abuse, the mental health clinician will work with the Physician
•	to identify any neurological issues that might arise from head trauma.
•	Substance abuse assessment: including use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs;
	In addition, all youth will receive a complete health assessment at program entry. If they have no chronic condition requiring more frequent visits, they will then receive a physical health assessment.
	Risk Assessment: The purpose of COAR case management is to maintain the safety of the child while helping the parent to modify the harmful behavior, by continually assessing the risk to the child and taking necessary action to prevent future harm. A family risk assessment will also be used to develop a case plan.
	Intervention Protocols: The COAR service organizations will develop clear protocols for intervening with families in which both domestic violence and sexual assault and/or other child maltreatment are present, and these protocols will offer services that provide safety and stability to the child, support to the battered parent, and treatment and sanctions for the batterer.  
Timeframe from initial contact to assessment:  The agencies will attempt to complete the assessment within one week of initial contact, depending on the severity of the case.  Necessary referrals will be made immediately (e.g., to CFS if the child is in danger).  In some cases, the therapist will determine that a child simply needs case management without intensive therapy.  He/she will provide immediate referrals and assistance. 
Use of standardized psychological assessment and evaluation tools:  The COAR project will use the Children’s Behavioral Checklist (CBCL), a standardized tool to measure behavioral and emotional symptoms of children.  The CBCL is a well-researched and widely used measure consisting of 118 items and includes several measures of different types of problems.
Assessment of multi-lingual, multi-cultural child victims:  The COAR project will include a bilingual/bicultural therapist who provides culturally appropriate services for Spanish-speaking families, especially those with monolingual Spanish-speaking parents.  FIGHT and FVS make every attempt to recruit Spanish-speaking interns.  Through an agreement with Lao Family Services, the KHAT program will refer monolingual clients from Southeast Asian countries to that agency.  All FIGHT and FVS therapists are trained extensively in cultural diversity and sensitivity.
Ongoing Assessment and Treatment: Staff will follow up with the family to continually assess their progress. All cases are reviewed weekly by the therapist, case managers and the Team Leader.  The COAR staff will assess the progress and effectiveness of therapy by setting measurable goals, eliciting on-going feedback from parents and caregivers about treatment in the form of satisfaction surveys/program evaluation forms, by using the CBCL at 6-month intervals to measure changes in the child’s behaviors, and by updating the assessment of the child’s overall functioning every 6 months.
Goal (2) - To conduct system-wide training for all partner and related agencies led by the First Five Konocti County Commission
Objective (2.1). To train participating agencies for improved screening and identification 
Objective (2.2). To train participating agencies for improved response systems	
	All of the COAR agencies will receive comprehensive training related to domestic violence and its impact on children.  First Five First will provide the COAR project with resources/funding to implement the training components of the project.  First Five’s role in the COAR project is to conduct trainings and identify a mechanism for institutionalizing the CEV training developed by COAR for their existing training program.
	Particular attention will be given to trainings in the areas of screening and identification and response; in addition to a general assessment, this process will address issues of trauma, separation anxiety, and other conditions that may arise from the abuse/neglect or the subsequent interventions. Trainings in substance abuse assessments will also be developed to alert line staff to issues related to the use of alcohol and other drugs.
Goal (3) - To provide data and best practices information to support system-wide or California State policy changes to better serve families
Objective (3.1). To conduct policy analysis that addresses No Tolerance’s commitment to serve the target population and ability to serve and follow them at a younger age, Objective (3.2). To track data from closed cases for potential co-occurrence to assist in policy analysis, Objective (3.3). To develop policy regarding issues affecting the target population 	
	To develop long-term system-wide changes, more local case data is required. Agencies will take inventory of old cases for co-occurrence and risk factors as well as adequately track data in current cases for potential co-occurrence.  Currently, in Konocti County, there is no central location or agency that tracks all child sexual assault cases, in home and out of home.
	First Five will support an advocacy and policy agenda, provide public education about the importance of the early years, and convene individuals and agencies to develop more effective, integrated services for families. Additionally, the COAR project will involve revising existing MOUs between FIGHT, FVS, and other partnering agencies.
Goal (4) - To increase awareness regarding co-occurrence cases and common service gaps effecting them
Objective (4.1). To integrate project findings into First Five Training Academy: 
Objective (4.2). To present project findings and information at the Domestic Violence Annual Training Conference or the Advisory Council Against Domestic Violence Conference in 2008	
	Upon collection of data and evaluation results, partnering agencies plan to disseminate these findings to the community in order to encourage county-wide awareness.  Bringing attention to the severity of these cases and their historical exclusion from services is a major first step towards addressing system gaps.  The First Five Training Academy will incorporate project findings into their curriculum.  The project findings will be presented at either (or both) of the Domestic Violence Annual Training Conference or the Advisory Council Against Domestic Violence Conference in 2008.

COAR Activity	Frequency	Duration	Intensity	
To train participating agencies for improved screening and identification	Quarterly	48 months	Offer trainings for 4 employees for each agency per 1 session	
To track data for co-occurrence from closed cases to assist in policy analysis	Quarterly	48 months	Staff will collect information on a monthly basis to input data	
To contact all referral sources to ask for potential cases information	Bi-monthly	48 months	N/A	
To conduct parent groups	Bi-monthly	48 months	N/A	
To offer group child therapy	Weekly	48 months	N/A	

COAR Project Quantifiable Targets (in 12 months):
•	To identify 40-50 families of the target population per year
•	To serve 100-125 target children with quality intervention programs per year
•	To serve 60-75 parents per year

Data Collection

	Data Collection: All data collection will be managed by Academic Survey Research (ASR) and the No Tolerance Coordinator, Deborah Leine (Office of County Administrator).  To lay the foundation for the national evaluation of the program, ASR will set up the data collection plan and integrate agency coordination with the national evaluator.
	Academic Survey Research (ASR) is a nonprofit social research firm dedicated to conducting and using community-based research to help people build better communities. For over 23 years, ASR has employed best practices of the survey research, assessment, strategic planning and evaluation fields in order to better serve organizations of all sizes, ranging from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Office of Violence Against Women at the federal level, to the California Endowment, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Hewlett Foundation at the state and regional level, to individual counties, cities and non-profit organizations.
	ASR has established an Institutional Review Board (IRB) comprised of ASR researchers and other key community stakeholders and professionals with both scientific and non-scientific backgrounds. The role of the IRB will be to review federally-funded research conducted by ASR to ensure that all research meets or exceeds the highest national standards for  the  protection  of  human  subjects in research. ASR's IRB has been registered with the federal Office of Human Research Protections  (OHRP) and is included on a national list of federally approved IRB's.
	ASR has worked with Konocti County extensively, conducted community assessments and has tracked and reported on data regarding children in multiple scopes.  Highlights of their work in Konocti County include:
•	2003 Konocti County Children’s Report Card.  ASR recently completed the 2003 Konocti County Children’s Report Card for the Konocti County Children and Families Policy Forum.  This was contracted by Konocti County Children and Families Policy Forum, 2003.
•	After-school Activities for All.  ASR was contracted by Konocti County administrator’s office to develop a web-based resource directory with searchable fields to enable parents and other interested parties in finding after-school activities near their home or school, by selected activities during appropriate hours. ASR designed and implemented a stakeholder survey in order to determine the need for youth activities in the county.  The data collected from this project was presented to the Board of Supervisors along with recommendations for the future.  
•	Community Services Needs Assessment.  In 2003, ASR was contracted by Konocti County Community Services Department to collect and update data for 25 Community Services Indicators.  ASR provided 5 year trend lines whenever possible and produced a comprehensive report.  This report was used by the Community Services Department for internal planning.
Key Staff: The ASR team is comprised of 17 researchers, each bringing unique areas of expertise.  For management of COAR evaluation, key staff will include: 
Kim Amar, MA, Director of Evaluation Services: Ms. Amar will act as director of all aspects of this data collection.  She is an expert in evaluation services and is the principal or co-principal investigator on several state or federally-funded violence prevention or intervention projects such as the Greenbook Project, the Coordinated Community Response to Prevent Intimate Partner Violence Project, as well as several violence-related needs assessments.  She holds a Master’s Degree in Evaluation from Yale University.
	Debbie Daniels, MPH, Senior Research Analyst:  Ms. Daniels will serve as manager and coordinator of all evaluation activities.  Ms. Daniels has extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative research and has designed both qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments, sampling frames, and data entry and collection protocol.  
	Institutional Review Board Clearance: Konocti County plans to obtain institutional review board (IRB) clearance for data collection activities, including reporting data to OJJDP and participate in the comparison/control group design of the national evaluation.  The evaluation plan will be submitted for review to Academic Survey Research. No data collection will take place until approval is granted.
	Data Collection Plans: Data collected through the evaluation process will be for a range of purposes (coordinated with national evaluation requirements) and will address the following goals:
1.	Describe demographic characteristics of children and adolescents who receive services from the care system;
2.	Conduct an ongoing process evaluation to support effective and timely implementation of the project, and to provide adequate documentation so that lessons learned in Konocti can be disseminated to other jurisdictions;
3.	Assess fidelity of implementation of the program to system of care values;
4.	Measure system level and child and family level outcomes;
5.	Involve consumers in oversight of the evaluation;
6.	Ensure age and cultural competence of all evaluation measures and procedures.
COAR will utilize the Children’s Interview Centers MIS system.  (see Data Collection spreadsheet in Attachments)
	Screening and Assessments: The evaluator firm (ASR) will maintain a database of the results of participant and family assessments and screening tools. Assessments will be administered at referral or intake and again at discharge, and yearly thereafter unless otherwise indicated by the national evaluator. 
	Informed Consent: The COAR project will abide by all federal, state, and local rules and regulations regarding confidentiality and the protection of human subjects.  COAR therapists will obtain a consent to treat a minor from the minor’s parents/guardian at the onset of treatment and obtain release of information to confer with other service providers and professionals such as teachers, social workers, and doctors.
	Ideally, COAR staff will obtain a consent to treatment of a minor signed by both parents, but the signature of one parent/guardian is acceptable to commence treatment.  If both parents do not sign the consent form, staff will involve both parents in the child’s treatment when appropriate.  In situations, where there is a restraining order between the parents, staff will work with the custodial parent only.  COAR staff will only work with the non-custodial parent when appropriate and necessary, on a limited basis.  COAR staff will obtain copies of custody paperwork and restraining orders.
	For children who are dependents of the court, COAR staff will obtain consent from their social worker, and from their foster parent or guardian, or parent, if they are placed with their parent.
	For obtaining informed consent to outpatient mental health treatment or counseling for a child who is age 12 or older:  COAR project staff will obtain consent from their parent, if they are placed with their parent, foster parent/guardian or social worker, unless they do not want their parents to know, and they meet the criteria for treatment without parental consent.
	For emancipated minors and/or is 15 years of age or older, COAR project staff would have the emancipated minor sign an informed consent form.  During the intake session, the COAR therapists would discuss the process of therapy, expectations, benefits, and limitations of therapy, and limitations of confidentiality.  COAR project staff would provide the minor with a copy of the informed consent form.  This is the same process that COAR project staff would use for adolescents 15 years or older.
	Information that clients share with COAR therapists is kept confidential.  Therapists are mandated to report suspected child abuse, elder or dependent adult abuse, and a threat of harm to others.  In addition, therapists may find it necessary to break confidentiality if a client is at risk for self-harm.  All of this information is outlined in the informed consent form that therapists discuss with clients and their families during the initial intake session.
	COAR project staff will obtain releases of information at the onset of treatment to confer with other service providers and professionals.
	Privacy and Confidentiality: Each of the participant agencies has many years of experience in maintaining confidentiality.  All records will be contained in rooms with restricted access. Old records will be destroyed. All patient substance abuse records will be kept confidential in accordance with Federal regulations 42 CFR Part 2 and 42 CFR, Section 51c,119, and with state regulation Title IX. All other medical records will be kept in accordance to current statutes. All staff are thoroughly familiar with the relevant provisions. Clients and their parents or legal guardians will be given a summary of these provisions to read and sign, including also their awareness of the limits of confidentiality (e.g. court-ordered release, release to emergency medical personnel, qualified auditors, researchers, and program evaluators, and in cases concerning abuse of children, elders, or dependent adults, as per state law.)  Before any information is released to outside persons (except as provided above), the client's parent or legal guardian will be asked to sign a statement specifying the exact information that will be released, to whom, and for what period of time. All communications with outside agencies will be confined to information deemed relevant to the issue at hand.
	Follow-up Data Collection Procedures: Case variable number 12 will be collected, semi-annually, for 24 months. The COAR project will offer multiple incentives to families for long term participation.  
	The COAR project will also use the Children’s Behavioral Checklist (CBCL), a standardized tool to measure behavioral and emotional symptoms of children.  The CBCL is a well-researched and widely used measure consisting of 118 items and includes several measures of different types of problems.  The COAR project will administer psychological testing measure (CBCL) at the beginning of a child’s/parents’ involvement in the program, at 6 months and at the end of treatment.  (Family Violence Solutions uses the BASIS 32 to evaluate the effectiveness of therapy for adults.)  
	COAR project staff will use the CBCL, with a questionnaire or interview including open-ended questions about the effectiveness of the program, e.g., was the program helpful?  If so, how did it help?  What was most useful?  What was least useful? What have they learned about themselves and their family?  Before treatment, a typical child client may be experiencing symptoms and behavioral problems at a clinically significant level.  With treatment, the typical child’s symptoms and problems are expected to reduce to a normal level.  Analysis of their before- and after- therapy scores would show that the level of improvement is statistically significant for all three of the summary indices as well as two of the problem types.  That is, child and youth clients would demonstrate a significant decrease in the number of overall, internalizing and externalizing problems.  
	Clinical staff involved in the COAR project are experts in their fields and have many years of experience in outcome or summarized evaluation.  Staff will seek feedback from teachers, physicians, and others who interact with a child to determine if there is a change in a child’s behavior.  This feedback would be used in case conferences as a form of summarized evaluation and allows staff to adjust the treatment plan.
	Data Collection & Storage Plan: Data collected through the evaluation process will be for a range of purposes (coordinated with national evaluation requirements) and will address the following goals:
1.	Describe demographic characteristics of children and adolescents who receive services from the care system;
2.	Conduct an ongoing process evaluation to support effective and timely implementation of the project, and to provide adequate documentation so that lessons learned in Konocti can be disseminated to other jurisdictions;
3.	Assess fidelity of implementation of the program to system of care values;
4.	Measure system level and child and family level outcomes;
5.	Involve consumers in oversight of the evaluation;
6.	Ensure age and cultural competence of all evaluation measures and procedures.

	Once a client is accepted into the COAR project, they will be assigned an Intake Case Number. From the intake sheet, the data collection assistant will create a data record based on that Intake Case Number in Microsoft Excel.  This is a specially designed interface in Microsoft Excel for this purpose.  Data is then transferred to worksheets and specific fields for tracking.  Each worksheet has different fields, and each field has a different label.  Before the data is submitted to OJJDP, it will be cleared of all identifying information by the data collection assistant. The partners of the COAR project will exchange case numbers so that they match agency to agency.  This system is currently in place and used efficiently between the Office of the District Attorney, FIGHT, Family Violence Solutions and the Children’s Interview Center. This has allowed partners to track clients by number and  share confidential information. This is a requirement for the national membership in the National Children’s Alliance and will be based at the Children’s Interview Center, the central COAR filing location.
	Comparison/Control Group Plans: The following Directors from participant agencies, Pat Tinker, Rhonda James, Glorial Sandoval in addition to No Tolerance Coordinator Deborah Leine and Family Violence Solutions therapists conducted a meeting to review and consider sources for a control group. They identified multiple sources and considerations regarding control group options.  Highlighted sources included children from bordering Alameda County, children who may have been referred but declined services at any child service agency, children currently on agency waitlists and collaboration with schools. Directors discussed utilizing many incentives, like food or movie vouchers to keep participants, and involving community centers to outreach for recruitment.
	Process Evaluation: COAR will conduct a process evaluation for each major project component, to assess the quality and design of program activities relative to the desired outcomes.  These process data will be important in the interpretation of results. Process data will focus on the following program elements:
•	The context of the program, methods for identifying eligible participants, including selection, responsibility for referrals, and the process for referral;
•	The specific interventions, including service descriptions, and the process by which individual care plans were developed and the organizational linkages that either helped or hindered program implementation.
	Critical elements in the process evaluation of the program will be to insure program fidelity, program implementation and planning strategies. In reviewing program fidelity, ASR will review the program through participation in planning and implementation meetings, and an annual administrative interview with key stakeholders of the project. In addition, staff will be interviewed annually to determine program development issues including achievements, barriers, and solutions to these barriers.  
	Fidelity to System of Care Values: Also a part of the process evaluation is the assessment of fidelity of the program’s development and implementation to the system of care values of: cultural competence, family and consumer involvement, and development of individualized service plans.
	Involvement of Parents and Staff: An Evaluation Committee will oversee the evaluation. Among its members it will have a parent/consumer representative, who will receive a stipend for participation on the Committee. Among the roles of the Evaluation Committee will be to ensure that all data collection processes and tools are age and culturally competent. A plan for consumer and parent paraprofessional involvement in data collection activities will also be developed during the first planning year.

Organizational Capacity

ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES

	The Office of the County Administrator (CAO) supports the County Board of Supervisors by maintaining fiscal integrity, organizational effectiveness, and coordinated public service.  The CAO manages the implementation of the Board of Supervisors’ policy decisions by overseeing departments, monitoring resources, documenting performance, and providing public information important to County residents.
The CAO’s office has a distinguished history in providing leadership in developing multi-department programs and service delivery systems and formulation, implementation and enforcement of administrative policies and the encouragement of best practices. 
	FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence has an extensive history of collaborating and building partnerships with both faith communities and victim service providers.  Therefore, FIGHT is highly qualified for this project because of the agency’s many years of capacity-building work, with faith and victim service communities throughout Konocti County.  
	FIGHT’s faith community work has also been recently recognized by the California Department of Health Services through a grant award.  FIGHT is included as a key consultant on the Faith Leaders and Domestic Violence project, sponsored by California State University Channel Island branch, that has been tentatively awarded funding.  
FIGHT has partnered with many government and non-governmental agencies on collaborative federal and state grants and has the organizational capability to manage large, federal grants.  FIGHT is a recipient of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP,) Encourage Arrests grant and currently works in collaboration with the City of Cordia, Konocti County Department of Probation and Sheriff’s Department, City of Lakeside Police Department, and City of Cordia Police Department.  This successful continuation project that began in 1997 between the criminal justice system and FIGHT, has increased domestic violence victim safety and resulted in stronger arrest policies.  FIGHT has also recently been awarded another highly competitive grant from OJP, the Training to Stop Abuse and Sexual Assault of Older Individuals with Disabilities grant, to support targeted training of criminal justice personnel to enhance their ability to recognize, investigate and prosecute instances of elder abuse, neglect and domestic violence against older individuals.  FIGHT, as the lead agency, will collaborate on this two-year project with Konocti County Aging and Adult Services, Office of the District Attorney, Sheriff’s Office, and the City of Lakeside Police Department.
	FIGHT is a leader in the county in planning and implementing local initiatives that work towards ending domestic and family violence in the community, including the award-winning youth violence prevention program, the Mt. Cobb Youth Relationship Violence Prevention Program, and family services projects in underserved areas including the Family Alliance in East County and the La Familia project in Far East County.
Clinical staff’s ability to treat multiple and co-occurring types of abuse:  Both agencies have extensive experience in serving children with learning disabilities and severe emotional, behavioral problems.  Therapy rooms are wheelchair accessible.  Therapists receive special training on working with children with developmental disabilities.  Therapists are trained extensively in cultural sensitivity and multi-lingual services are available at both agencies. 
Clinical Staff’s ability to provide various modalities: FVS and FIGHT therapists are trained in various treatment modalities, such as art therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, trauma therapy, and various forms of play therapy.  
Agency’s ability to expand current services:  Both FIGHT and FVS provide services at numerous sites throughout the County.  For example, both offer in-school prevention programs, and provide on-site crisis response.  FVS and FIGHT operate emergency response programs in hospital emergency rooms.  An important component of the proposed services is case management, offered out of a centrally located “Service Integration Team” (SIT) site.  The SIT site house a variety of county agencies offering coordinated health services, counseling for parents, eligibility processing and benefits advocacy, and linkages to employment training and placement services.  
	Family Violence Solutions (FVS) works in partnership with the community to end sexual assault and family violence through prevention, crisis services, and treatment.  Formerly called Rape Crisis Center, FVS was founded by the Greater Lakeside Interfaith Program in 1974 and incorporated as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in 1977.  
	Recent achievements include full membership in the National Children’s Alliance; expanding services for children and documenting an increase of nearly 100% in the number of children served agency-wide since 1999; and recognition by Konocti County as the regional expert on sexual abuse for its new Team Decision Making Model to improve outcomes for youth in the child welfare system.
Several FVS programs are developed on collaborative models, such as the Children’s Interview Center (described in section B) and the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART).  The SART responds to sexual assault with both compassion and a highly specialized medical evaluation to collect forensic evidence of the assault.  Partners include law enforcement, hospital emergency room personnel, the District Attorney’s Office, and FVS’s Rape Crisis
	Children and Family Services has committed significant resources to identifying and intervening in cases of domestic violence and invested in many productive collaborative relationships.  CFS’s collaborative history includes close working relationship with FIGHT! Against Domestic violence which produced the following outcomes: 
•	Draft Memorandum of Understanding
•	Creation of Domestic Violence Liaisons, now on site at CFS
•	Participants in FIGHTs faith based initiative
•	Inclusion of FIGHT Staff in CFS child welfare redesign planning
•	Past funding of targeted services for CFS clients
CFS has also worked closely with FVS, Sheriff, Law Enforcement and the DA for several years in the creation of the Children’s Interview Center.  CFS collaborated with Alcohol and Other Drugs Services for many years, which produced the following outcomes:
•	Signed Memorandum of Understanding
•	Cross training of staff
•	Creation of Early Intervention Outreach Specialist position (Substance abuse experts who meet with parents who have lost their children due to AOD problems)
•	Provision of Annual Cross Training Conference
•	Application and receipt of Prop 10/First 5 funding to create a residential therapeutic drug treatment facility for mothers and their children (5 & under)
CFS also works with and funds a variety of community-based organizations throughout the County. Funded programs center of prevention of child abuse and neglect and include countywide kinship programs, Shared Family Care, and numerous community based collaborative preservation and support programs.  CFS also funds visitation programs that serve those families whose children are dependents of the Juvenile Court and in foster care.
	The Konocti County Office of the District Attorney has a history of leadership in the system-wide effort to reduce domestic violence and elder abuse.  The District Attorney has a strong commitment to enhancing the conviction rate in misdemeanor domestic violence cases.  The Domestic Violence Unit, established in 1998, has grown to include eight Deputy District Attorneys, four Senior Inspectors, and two Case Preparation Assistants.  The Office focused its efforts on misdemeanor cases by assigning domestic violence coordinators who file and coordinate cases in all County branch offices.  Deputy DA’s also staff the misdemeanor Domestic Violence Court.  The Elder Abuse Unit has also seen exceptional increased conviction rates for elder abuse.
	The Office of the Sheriff/Coroner has more than 758 sworn and 368 civilian employees, serving a population of 310,000.  The Office of the Sheriff has a strong history in exercising leadership countywide and strengthening the investigation and enforcement of domestic violence cases.  In 1997, the Sheriff was the first law enforcement agency to establish a specialized domestic violence unit and was instrumental in creating a countywide Chief’s Association protocol for domestic violence investigation.  Significantly, the Sheriff’s Office has increased the number of felony prosecutions previously handled as misdemeanors at a rate of 40% over the years.  The Sheriff also developed a countywide DV tracking system.  To date, over 26,000 reports have been entered into the system with 100% participation from 25 jurisdictions.
Konocti County Probation Department - has a distinguished history of developing grant projects, as well as, piloting and modeling innovative programs.  Among these are the Grants to Encourage Arrests and Probation Specialized Unit Grants in the Domestic Violence Unit.  In general supervision, there are collaborative grants with the Drug Task Force, Auto Theft, Gang Suppression and Prop 36.  The Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention act provides funding for the Community Probation Program, which places juvenile DPO’s at police agencies and the Deputy in Schools Program, which places Deputies in middle and high schools countywide.
Probation prioritized supervision of misdemeanor domestic violent offenders in the late 1990’s, has been a core partner in strengthening Konocti’s criminal justice response to domestic violence offenses and was instrumental in developing the County’s Advisory Counsel.  Probation’s Domestic Violence Unit continues to partner with other CCC departments, community based organizations and agencies throughout California in an ongoing effort to determine the most effective means of keeping victims safe and holding perpetrators accountable.
	In the past year, probation successfully established a Juvenile Drug Court, reduced the number of minors in out-of-home placement, continued the in custody Batterer’s Intervention Program, collected substantial restitution, and stepped up domestic violence prevention training.  Probation utilized technology to expedite court services and establish a virtual private network for DPO’s at remote locations.
	The Workforce Services Bureau helps job seekers, workers and businesses meet their employment needs. We have successfully assisted families receiving public assistance move toward self-sufficiency by fostering communication and cooperation within our Department and with other community service agencies to establish an effective network of resources for people in need.
Highlighted collaborations are as follows:  
Under the Welfare to Work model, collaborations have included:
•	Securing a representative from FIGHT to be outstation in our district offices
•	Partnering with Consumer Credit Counseling to assist our clientele improve finances learn budgeting, understand credit and how to clean their records, and provide innovative workshops and educational classes.
•	Develop new and creative transportation programs including Rides to Success and a low-interest Loan Program for only working CalWORKs clients
•	Weed-N-Seed Program that works with the DOJ to prevent gang activity in our youth
•	Cal Learn programs that target special help to the pregnant / parenting teens
•	Linkages with the DA and child support services
•		Special Housing assistance programs that connect with our community partners
	The First 5 Konocti Children and Families Commission was established in September 1999 to allocate Proposition 10 funds in Konocti County. See “Community Resources” section for background description.
	The Konocti County Community Services Department (CSD) is the current grantee for the Early Head Start program in Konocti County, California.  For over thirty-five years, CSD has also been the grantee for Head Start in Konocti County.  
 	COLLABORATIVE READINESS: There are multiple factors that place Konocti County and the COAR partners at a pivotal point of readiness for the COAR project.  In addition to the county’s long collaborative history of success in child welfare and child safety, the region has been hallmarked as a “collaboration community.”  There are multiple structures in place that have nurtured a climate of continuous communication, open dialogue, inclusion of multiple stakeholders, cultural competency, and outreach to diverse populations. See “Community Resources” section for collaborative history. One example is the KHAT program.  This program, currently implemented by FIGHT and Family Violence Solutions, has been successfully operated with concurrent services for the same families. With a well-written MOU in place, these two agencies are poised to integrate their services with other agencies and integrate the COAR program as a PHASE 2 development of their KHAT services. See description of the KHAT Program in “Community Resources” section.
	Konocti County’s No Tolerance partnership is a collaborative that is systemic, that pursues a holistic view to multi-agency coordination, and that succeeds at integrating people, processes, and technology in its dedication to reducing domestic violence.  This dedication has been demonstrated not only by its results but as well in political will and funding. See description of No Tolerance accomplishments and funding in “Community Resources” section.  The success of the COAR system of care will be due largely to the strong leadership of the No Tolerance for Domestic Violence partnership, the long collaborative history of participant partners, and their collective track records of success.  
	No Tolerance partners already maintain collaborative procedures and protocols in multiple arenas including: co-location of services, document management, group calendars, case conferencing, collaborative discussions, centralized technology, and integrated training.  The COAR project is an advancement of these currently integrated services and relationships, focused specifically on the COAR target population and specified gaps in service.
	MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE - Konocti County Oversight - The COAR project will be carried out in an inclusive manner designed to promote meaningful and productive collaboration.  While the Board of Supervisors (Board) will provide oversight, the organizational structure is intended to promote collaborative and shared leadership.  The Office of the County Administrator’s No Tolerance Coordinator will serve as a representative of the Board of Supervisors and will assume responsibilities for project management, including facilitating team planning and implementation meetings.   
Executive Team - Implementation of the COAR project will be supervised directly by a No Tolerance CEV Executive Team.  The CEV Executive Team will have the ultimate responsibility for operating services, developing and implementing policy, and data collection.  The Team will work closely with the Steering Committee in carrying out project objectives.  Members include FIGHT! Against Domestic Violence Executive Director Maria Duval, No Tolerance for Domestic Violence Coordinator/COAR Project Manager Deborah Leine, Family Violence Solutions Executive Director, Maria Staas, Children’s Interview Center, Director, Matt Smith, and Child Family Services, Division Manager, Vicki Moore.
Steering Committee – The COAR Steering Committee will have the responsibility for assisting in the enhancement of direct services offered through COAR, development and implementation of policy and training efforts, implementation of data collection procedures, and resolving any inter-agency concerns.  The Steering Committee is comprised all COAR participant agencies.
	Team Leader – Matt Smith, Director of the Children’s Interview Center will act as Team Leader and directly supervise the therapist and Case Managers.  He will conduct day to day operations and serve as a central coordinator for partner agencies on cases.

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