Okaloosa County BOCC — January 19, 2016 — FY 2016 OVW MOU

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WHEREAS, The Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), Safe Connections, Shelter House, Inc, and The 1st Judicial Circuit Judicial Court have come together to collaborate and to make an application for The OVW Fiscal Year 2016 Justice for Families Program Solicitation; and WHEREAS, the partners listed above have agreed to enter into a collaborative agreement in which The Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners will be the lead agency and applicant and the other agencies will be partners in this application; and WHEREAS, the partners herein desire to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding setting forth the services to be provided by the collaborative; and WHEREAS, the application prepared and approved by the collaborative through its partners is to be submitted to the Office on Violence Against Women on or before January 20, 2016; I. History of Relationships Safe Connections began collaborating with Shelter House, Inc. the community domestic violence agency in 1997. Safe Connections and Shelter House, Inc. Directors met regularly to discuss the provision of visitation services to victims of domestic violence. Throughout this relationship, Shelter House, Inc. provided training for Safe Connections' staff and volunteers in the following areas: recognizing signs of domestic violence; and methods and strategies for working with victims of domestic violence; and domestic violence's potential impacts on children and the battered person. Safe Connections and Shelter House, Inc. Directors identified the local court system as a partner, and a court representative began attending their collaborative meetings in 1 2002. Safe Connections accepts referrals from Shelter House, Inc. and The First Circuit Court for women in need of supervised visitation services. Additionally, Safe Connections, Shelter House, Inc. Directors and Court Staff continue to meet on a monthly basis to develop a comprehensive plan for building a larger collaboration focused on supporting domestic violence response and supervised visitation. The partnering organizations' ultimate goal is the protection of domestic violence victims and their children in all settings. As a result, Safe Connections, Shelter House, Inc. and the First Circuit Court developed an expanded collaboration including child abuse and neglect organizations, law enforcement, courts, hospitals, legal advocates, families, and community groups. The group's immediate goal was to develop an awareness and understanding among the potential collaborators of the unique circumstances surrounding supervised visitation in cases of domestic violence. This is ongoing, and now this group strives to meet gaps in services as identified by these meetings. The Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners has supported these efforts with meeting space, but more significantly by providing support staff and funding for specific training to the community agencies and services that work to support victims and work towards ending domestic violence, child abuse, dating violence and/or stalking. II. Development of Application Discussions regarding the collaborative effort that is proposed in the application and detailed in this Memorandum began in earnest in March 2002. During their regular monthly meetings, the agency directors and court representative discussed the elements of the application and the appropriate roles for each partner. Safe Connections' Director met with center staff to develop a grant application response. This draft was supplemented with key Judicial and Shelter House, Inc. staff recommendations. Safe Connections' Director also conducted an independent study of 2 similar supervised visitation programs in other jurisdictions. This information enhanced the quality of proposed programmatic element