Our Projects

Advancing Research for the Field

The QIC-DVCW is partnering with and supporting Research and Capacity Building Projects across the country. Projects will develop, implement and evaluate practices, policy and programming to promote safety and well-being of adult and child survivors, accountability and meaningful support for change for people using violence, and permanency for children.

Research and Capacity Building Projects

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

Massachusetts Department of Children and Families

Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families

We’re Testing an Adult & Child Survivor-Centered Approach

Research and Capacity Building Projects will work with the QIC-DVCW through September 2021 to test collaborative interventions that include two inter-connected components of an Adult & Child Survivor-Centered Approach:

  1. Practitioners’ use of an evidence-informed domestic violence risk and protective factors framework to deepen their understanding of the varied experiences and needs of adult and child survivors, and to co-create individualized plans for helping them.
  2. More consistent and effective engagement of domestic violence offenders to establish accountability and create pathways for positive change to reduce or eliminate their use of violence and coercion with their partners and harm to their families.

We're Answering These Questions

  1. Does a collaborative Adult & Child Survivor-Centered Approach—that includes safely engaging and establishing accountability of the domestic violence offender—improve adult and child survivor safety, child permanency, and child and family well-being for child welfare involved families experiencing domestic violence?

  2. For which families, and in which social contexts, does an Adult & Child Survivor-Centered Approach improve these outcomes?

  3. What factors are associated with successful implementation and sustainability of an Adult & Child Survivor-Centered Approach?

  4. What are the costs associated with the implementation and maintenance of an Adult & Child Survivor-Centered Approach, and how do these compare to the costs of “practice as usual”?

These research questions were developed based on a national scan of relevant literature and federal data sets; listening sessions and stakeholder interviews with key informants around the country; lessons from the Greenbook project and similar cross-system initiatives to align child welfare and domestic violence work; and deliberations with the QIC-DVCW National Advisory Committee.