Program Spotlight: Children Who Witness Violence

Photo via David Pereiras from Canva. To honor the privacy and dignity of those we serve, FrontLine Service does not share client photos or identifying details.

“You just don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors—we need to go back to having stronger community—and always, always just be kind.” 

- Susan Weaver, Children Who Witness Violence Program Manager

Jake, 12, is witness to his father’s violent assault in a public park by a stranger with a knife. In the following weeks, Jake is increasingly withdrawn and irritable. His sister, Anna, who’d also seen the attack, is isolated, fearful and vigilant. She spends most of her time in her room and has difficulty falling asleep; she needs the lights on and wakes up from night terrors almost every night.  

Though their father is now home from the hospital and will make a full recovery from his injuries, the children’s behaviors—signs of trauma—persist and deepen. When Jake’s parents are called to pick him up from school because he’d gotten in a fight that school staff had to break up, Jake’s mother decides to call Susan Weaver of Children Who Witness Violence (CWWV).  

Susan had reached out to the family, knocking on their door the day after the attack, having gotten a referral from the Cleveland Division of Police. At the time, Jake’s mother had been too overwhelmed to talk much, but she took Susan’s card and the information about what the impact of a traumatic event like their family had just experienced can look like. Recognizing now that her children were exhibiting many of the symptoms the pamphlets talked about, she makes the call.  

Over the next several months, Susan, Program Manager of CWWV, does what she has done so many times over the years—ensures that the children and family have access to support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week while they undergo the process of restabilizing and recovering after trauma. Unlike many of the families Susan works with, Jake and his family aren’t experiencing financial hardship—their basic needs are met, and they live in stable housing. Susan points out that one of the most important components of the work of helping a child recover from trauma is making sure the environment and the caregivers are stable. If the electricity may be shut off at any moment, if the violence affected the home and a change of living situation is necessary, if there’s not enough food on the table—all this can make recovering even more difficult or impossible.  

Susan makes sure the family has the phone number for FrontLine’s 24/7 crisis line and arranges a time to come back to the home for a diagnostic assessment for both Jake and Anna. Jake takes some time to open up, angrily denying that anything is wrong but eventually admitting he feels afraid all the time now. Anna, on the other hand seems eager to talk—she says she doesn’t want to bother her parents with her feelings since they’re already dealing with a lot. After the assessment, Susan determines what services will suit the kids best and makes referrals—one to another counselor in the CWWV program for Anna, and the other to FrontLine’s TST program for Jake. She also provides linkages to appropriate services for the parents.  

Susan sees success in CWWV as when the family feels they have “completed” the program—when they have regained their footing, restabilized, and no longer feel in need of these supportive services. After about 9 months participating in CWWV supportive services, Jake is back to being his usual comedian self and Anna plays outside again and doesn’t need the lights on to fall asleep. 

Susan notes that regardless of how clients come to CWWV, whether through community or domestic violence, it is important to care for one another. She asks that we as a community take more part in our neighbors’ lives because “You just don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors—we need to go back to having stronger community—and always, always just be kind.” 

“It is an honor to walk with these families on their journeys,” says Susan. We are grateful for the CWWV staff for their commitment and all the caring work they do walking with families through their journey of recovering from trauma.