Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet (2001) Chapter 5: How Young People Have Embraced Computers and the Internet
A report by the U.S. Department of Commerce: Children and young adults have embraced new information technologies in large numbers. More than any other age group, these younger age groups use computers and the Internet widely for many of their daily activities.
How Access to Technology Benefits Children
This site includes a report, created by the Department of Commerce, which contains 11 stories about people who are working hard to ensure technology will enhance the lives of children.
A Circle of Healing for Native Children Endangered by Drugs
“A Circle of Healing for Native Children Endangered by Drugs” is a seven-part video series that highlights best practices for meeting the needs of drug-endangered youth in tribal communities. Produced in collaboration with tribal and federal partners, the videos feature testimonials and examples of cultural practices that tribal communities can use to help traumatized children who are healing from drug endangerment.
Multicultural Implications of Restorative Justice: Potential Pitfalls and Dangers
This document examines concerns practitioners of restorative justice must keep in mind when working with people from different cultures.
Office of Victims of Crime
The Office of Victims of Crime is committed to enhancing the nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and providing leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime.
Office of Victims of Crime Initiatives
The Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, provides legal assistance for victims of human trafficking and funds the Wrap-Around Victims Legal Assistance Network Demonstration Project and the Services for Trafficking Victims Grant Program to sustain services in communities.
Responding to Transgender Victims of Sexual Assault
This online guide from DOJ's Office for Victims of Crime offers victim service providers, first responders, and health care providers tools to promote the understanding of, support for, and responses to transgender victims of sexual assault.
Training and Technical Assistance Center - Victims of Crime
This resource provides technical assistance to victim service providers and allied professionals.
Victims, Judges, and Juvenile Court Reform Through Restorative Justice
This Bulletin discusses the expansion of the role of victims in juvenile courts through the increased use of Restorative Justice.
SART Toolkit: Resources for Sexual Assault Response Teams
SARTs, or sexual assault response teams, can help victims of sexual assault through the maze of governmental and community agencies they interact with to receive assistance. The SART Toolkit can help communities considering developing a SART program or communities that have an established coordinated response but want to improve it.
Online Training: Building Resiliency in Child Abuse Organizations
This one-day online training identifies the five core elements of resiliency and explores how the organizational resiliency model can be implemented in victim service agencies through policies, supervisory techniques, and trainings. Continuing education unit (CEU) is offered for this training.
Fiscal Years 2013-2014 Status Report for the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States
OVC released “Fiscal Years 2013-2014 Status Report for the Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States” (PDF, 64 pages), a report that documents the progress that federal agencies made during 2013-2014 on each of the 250 action items in the plan related to human trafficking victim service improvements.
Online Training: Five New Modules for Victim Assistance Training (VAT)
VAT Online now offers five new online modules on the following topics: assault, campus/university victims of sexual assault, child abuse, ethics, and human trafficking.
Archived Webinar Series: Human Trafficking
Two webinar series can help professionals better serve survivors of human trafficking:
- Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Assault: Strategies to Strengthen Community Collaboration to Respond to Survivors' Needs: This five-part webinar series offers strategies, practical tips, case studies, and resources to help domestic violence and sexual assault service providers improve outcomes for human trafficking survivors.
- Capacity Building Webinars for Human Trafficking Service Providers: This series provides information on key strategies for working with survivors of human trafficking. It covers legal issues, confidentiality, communicating with survivors, and helping survivors access employment and housing.
Toolkit: Helping Victims of Mass Violence & Terrorism
This toolkit aims to help communities prepare for and respond to victims of mass violence and terrorism in the most timely, effective, and compassionate manner possible. Professionals who are responsible for planning and responding to incidents of mass violence and terrorism can use this toolkit to develop a victim assistance plan, bring key partners together to develop or continue the use of a plan, and establish and implement victim assistance protocols.
Resource: Children, Violence, and Trauma
This video provides an overview of how violence and trauma impact students, gives coping techniques for educators to share with their students, and provides information on trauma-informed teaching.
SART Toolkit: Resources for Sexual Assault Response Teams
This updated toolkit outlines the steps involved in creating a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), describes how to retain focus on survivors, highlights SART programs throughout the country, and includes sample resources to use when developing and evaluating a SART.
Faces of Human Trafficking Video Series
This video series provides information about sex and labor trafficking, multidisciplinary approaches to serving survivors of human trafficking, effective services, legal needs, and voices of survivors. The sixth video in the series specifically highlights the vulnerabilities, risk factors, and needs of youth, with a focus on the diverse range of professionals who are in a position to identify exploited youth and connect them with appropriate services. Service providers, law enforcement professionals, prosecutors, and others in the community can use this series to learn more about this important issue and their role in preventing and addressing it.
Support for Child Victims and Witnesses of Human Trafficking
This set of graphic novels is now available to help young trafficking survivors, ages 2–18, navigate the justice system as a victim or witness. These resources help youth understand the justice system, their rights, and roles of different practitioners. Practitioner and Caregiver Guides and excerpts of support from individuals with lived experience are included.
SCOTUS Decision Supports LGBT Behavioral Health
This blog post by SAMHSA Administrator Pamela Hyde describes the importance of the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which states that the Constitution requires LGBT couples be allowed to marry no matter where they live, and marriages performed in one state must be recognized in every state. The post also highlights other steps the federal government has taken this year to improve the health and well-being of LGBT people.
Celebrating Minority Mental Health Month: Spotlight on Tribal Behavioral Health Needs
Minority Mental Health Month provided an opportunity to raise awareness of how mental health and substance use issues affect ethnic minority groups. This blog post, written by a SAMHSA intern and member of the Rosebud Sioux and Oglala Sioux Tribes, describes a personal journey with addiction and provides hope and encouragement to tribal youth, tribal leaders, scholars, and community members to seek help and promote recovery and healing.
Now Available: Children's Mental Health Awareness Day Webcast
The 2015 Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day national event recorded webcast is now available. The event highlighted the needs of youth and young adults with mental or substance use disorders and their families, while demonstrating how these needs can be best met through integrated care. The event also introduced cutting-edge community strategies for integrating behavioral health care with primary health care, education, and child welfare.
Is it ADHD or Trauma Symptoms?
This podcast describes how children exposed to traumatic events can exhibit symptoms that overlap with ADHD and, in some cases, could result in inaccurate diagnoses. It also provides suggestions for ways to talk about impulsive and disruptive behaviors with school staff and pediatricians to make sure that children receive the services they need.
Behavioral Health Equity Barometer
The “Behavioral Health Equity Barometer” (PDF, 20 pages) report is a one-year snapshot of the state of behavioral health of youth and adults by demographics and insurance status. Highlights of the findings show there are gaps in treatment for some behavioral health conditions among racial/ethnic minority populations and people without health insurance.
Quick Guide for Clinicians Based on TIP 57: Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services
This resource equips care providers and administrators with information on caring for people who have experienced trauma or may be at risk for developing trauma stress reactions. It addresses prevention, intervention, and treatment issues and strategies.