An Uphill Climb: The Challenge of Collaboration in Response to Family Violence in a Rural Area

The Community Partnership Team (CPT) was created to more effectively address the problems of child sexual victimization and domestic violence in the rural, northeast corner of Connecticut. A multi-disciplinary team was formed to improve collaboration between agencies serving victims of violence. Observations of meetings and confidential interviews suggested that most participants felt quite positively about the process; however, serious conflicts emerged between agencies serving different types of victims. Results indicated that it is important to identify barriers to collaboration, to recognize and use differences to build relationships across agencies, and to maintain a formal mechanism for resolving conflict.