Ventura County Public Health Nursing Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP)

The Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP) is a result of an interagency collaborative effort between Human Services Agency (HSA), Juvenile Dependency (JD) and Public Health (PH). This program is unique because Public Health Nurses (PHNs) are integrated into the Domestic Violence, Drug and Juvenile courts. The goal of the program is to keep children out of the child welfare system and to reduce the rate of children re-entering the juvenile justice system. This is accomplished through individual and community assessments, screenings and preventive education about the causes, prevention and remediation of health related needs, family violence, and child abuse and neglect prevention. Community outreach activities include providing violence prevention classes to teenagers at our local schools and providing parent-child education to parents in recovery programs. Outcome measures support this program as an effective, successful vehicle for primary prevention and intra-agency collaboration.