Children’s Aid Society Loving Children’s Program in Collaboration with Detroit Police Department's Child Abuse

The Loving Children Project is a partnership between CAS social workers and the Detroit Police Department’s (DPD) Child Abuse Unit.  The collaboration team approach gives the families the opportunity to receive immediate access to services by CAS on-site social workers.  The services are provided to prevent further neglect and/or perpetuation of parental/caregiver frustration, which can lead to abuse and/or abandonment.  The social worker completes a thorough assessment to determine the unique problem areas of each at-risk child and family. 

The DPD Child Abuse Officers refer the non-offending families to CAS on-site social worker.  The social worker provides individual and family counseling services, Purposeful Parenting classes, Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Trainings and resource and referral services to the referred families.

The DPD Child Abuse Unit reported a 52 percent increase in reported complaints from 1992 through 2001.  A major concern of the DPD leadership was that there were no child abuse prevention services for those families determined as non-offenders.  In 2001, the unit was awarded a grant which provided these services.  CAS was contracted to provide prevention services, including family counseling, crisis intervention counseling and resource/referral services. 

The program collaboration continues today with a new funding source, the Children’s Trust Fund.  Children’s Trust Fund provides program funds for child abuse prevention programs.