Support Center Coming to Yolo County

February 13, 2011
By Democrat staff

People who have suffered child abuse, domestic violence or elder abuse will soon have a center in Yolo County that will serve their interests in a single place.

The Family Justice Center will house core services so family violence victims can go to one site -- instead of the multiple locations they navigate now -- to seek assistance, as stated in a release from Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven, who is part of the committee leading the project.

"This is phenomenal news," said Laura Valdes, an advocate to prevent domestic violence, of the planned facility.

Currently, survivors "can literally spend all day running from place to place just to access critical services," she said. "It can be very frustrating."

The two top executives with the National Family Justice Center Alliance in San Diego will be in Yolo County to formally begin the strategic planning for the center. The planning process will focus on where the center will be in Yolo County, what services it will offer and which agencies will have staff at the center.

The planning meetings will be held Feb. 17 and 18 at the Woodland Community & Senior Center. More than 100 representatives from local agencies and nonprofit organizations have been invited to participate. The two-day planning process will seek to bring all local agencies together to produce a model Family Justice Center for the state.

While about 60 centers operate nationally, each is run differently based on the needs of the community it serves, and Yolo County's center must be tailored to what works best here, said Casey Gwinn, president of National Family Justice Center Alliance.

Many of the existing centers house representatives from multiple agencies, such as police, prosecutors, counselors, civil attorneys and advocacy programs, all under one roof. Salaries for those representatives would still be covered by their employers, not the center, though the committee is seeking grants to pay for a director.

Organizers also look to use existing space, instead of building new offices, for the Family Justice Center.

Depending on what agencies are housed there, a battered person during a single visit might be able to file a restraining order against the abuser, talk to police, get counseling, meet with a chaplain and start developing a safety plan to escape the abuse.

One of the challenges in forming a successful program would be getting the various agencies to be interested in the concept.

Lynnette Irlmeier, executive director of the Yolo County Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Center, acknowledged that some domestic violence agencies might be reluctant to participate, given their tendency to work independently.