Okaloosa County BOCC — October 18, 2016 — Exhibit B FY 2016 OVW Project Narrative

EXHIBIT B Okaloosa County FY 2016 OVW JUSTICE FOR FAMILIES PROJECT NARRATIVE A. PURPOSE OF APPLICATION Purpose Areas to be Addressed Purpose Area 1: Supervised visitation and safe exchange: Purpose Area 3: Training for court-based and court-related personnel: Problem to Be Addressed for Purpose Area 1: Victims of domestic violence and their children 1 have a dramatically increased risk of re- victimization if their batterer is allowed contact with her in seeing their shared children. Despite this increased risk 2, women are required to comply with court-ordered visitation or exchanges of the children with the battering parent. In order to assure the safety of both mother and child in the case of visitation with non-custodial parents who batter, Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange programs are needed. Previous funding through the Safe Havens for Supervised Visitation Grant, allowed for the development of a second site to serve the largely rural, poor northern tier of Okaloosa County. The need is for these valuable safe supervised visitation and safe exchange services to broaden to meet all victim needs. In addition to the Development Site, there is a need to relocate the current site in the south end of the County into a space which will also meet OVW standards for the highest level of site safety. This move and continued funding are needed to assure that all victims of domestic violence, dating violence, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, 1 Studies show that child abuse occurs in 30-60% of family violence cases that involve families with children. Source: "The overlap between child maltreatment and woman battering." J.L. Edleson, Violence Against Women, February, 1999 2 Battered women seek medical attention for injuries sustained as a consequence of domestic violence significantly more often after separation than during cohabitation; about 75% of the visits to emergency rooms by battered women occur after separation (Stark and Flitcraft, 1988). 1  Okaloosa County or stalking in Okaloosa County are provided the standards and practices needed to be brought fully in line with the Six Guiding Principles. Problem to Be Addressed for Purpose Area 3: Judges make decisions that affect the lives of the victim, the batterer, the children and, potentially, other family members. The judicial system can help protect victims and their families, ensure that perpetrators are held accountable and prevent further domestic violence. 3 “Judges need training because many may be unaware of the effects of domestic violence as well as barriers in the legal system that impede victims.” 4 There is need for additional training for Court-based and court-related personnel. Although Florida does have minimum mandated domestic violence training for the judiciary, there is little provision to provide for accessible and in-depth training opportunities which create the type of social and systematic changes necessary to increase safety and decrease systematic abuse of domestic violence victims and their children. Gaps in Service Sufficient funding is not available locally to continue offering visitation services to under-served communities, specifically isolated, rural, and Limited-English proficient Mexican laborors in Okaloosa County, where travel distance and transportation are both barriers to service. Because without continued OVW funding, the s