Family Violence Council Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, November 16, 2016, 3:00 pm- 5 pm

400 McAllister, Room 617, San Francisco, CA 94102

Present:

Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, or designee: Hon. Tracie Brown

Mayor or designee: Paul Henderson

District Attorney, or designee: Liz Aguilar Tarchi

Chief of Police or designee: Capt. Una Bailey

President of Commission on the Status of Women, or designee: Minouche Kandel

Chief of Adult Probation or designee: Ramona Massey

Director of Domestic Violence Consortium: Beverly Upton

Director of Human Services Agency, or designee: Julie Lenhardt

Director of Elder Abuse Forensic Center, or designee: Shawna Reeves

Director of Child Abuse Prevention Center or designee: Larry Yip

Director of Department of Public Health: Dr. Leigh Kimberg

Director of Department of Aging and Adult Services, or designee: Jill Nielsen

Director of Department of Child Support Services, or designee: Karen Roye

Chief of Juvenile Probation or designee: Ana Villagran

Public Defender, or designee: Inna Verdiyan

 

Absent:

President of the Board of Supervisors, or designee

Sheriff, or designee

Executive Director of Department of Emergency Management, or designee

Director of Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families, or designee

Chair of the Consortium of Batterers Intervention Programs, or designee

Chief of the Fire Department or designee

Director of Department of Animal Care and Control, or designee

Superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District or designee

Human Resources Director, or designee

Other attendees:

Tamari Hedani, Institute on Aging; Shelli Rawlings Fein, First Five; Glen Fishman, Institute on Aging; Monica Gutierrez, San Francisco Adult Probation Department; Elise Hansell, Department on the Status of Women; Lisa Lightman, Superior Court; Samara Marion, Office of Citizens Complaints; Ana Marjavi, Futures Without Violence; Jerel McCrary, Bay Area Legal Aid; Maggie McHale, Department on the Status of Women; Kate Vander Tuig, Futures Without Violence; Arati Vasan, Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach

 

I. Approval of Minutes

   The August 31, 2016 meeting minutes were approved. [Tarchi/ Brown]

II. Presentation on Futures Without Violence 2017 National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence

Kate Vander Tuig from Futures without Violence spoke to the group about the 2017 Health and Domestic Violence Conference that will be held in San Francisco in September. If any member of the group is interested in submitting an abstract they will be due January 13^th. 

III. Sentencing Commission

Jerel McCrary updated the group on the last Sentencing Commission meeting. There were three principle presentations on risk assessment models and tools. The results of a study done in Ohio on the effect of community-based interventions on recidivism showed that there is an increase in recidivism with community-based interventions which mixed low and mid- risk offenders. There is a growing population of incarcerated peoples who are mentally ill, and there are very few integrated treatment models that combine mental health with incarceration. The Goldman School presentation on risk assessment and racial disparities concluded that risk assessment can be used in both the front end of the criminal justice process in addition to the back end of sentencing. Criminal history tends to skew most for racial disparities, so when using various risk assessment models, be cautioned of that disparity.  Risk assessment models can adjust for racial disparities without losing predictive use.

IV. Implementation of FY 2015 Family Violence Council Recommendations

A. Update on Strategic Planning Retreat (Recommendation 12)

The Department on the Status of Women has hired Lenore Goodman to facilitate the strategic planning retreat. Participants at the meeting provided the following suggestions on priorities to discuss at the retreat:

• Focus on the implementation of the 5-year plan.
• Recommendations for this year.
• The second recommendation for this year (Criteria for Death Review).
• More commitment from departments and agencies to collaborate and a clear outline of those commitments and who is accountable for those commitments.
• Prioritize our yearly recommendations, identify roadblocks and commit to getting them done.
• Improve collaboration and address sustainability.
• Develop an overarching framework. What are risk factors that would address all violence across the lifespan, address common factors that tie violence throughout the lifespan together. If we had a shared language would it affect how we collaborated and worked together.
• How does data drive our work and how do we measure our success?
•  Action items to address mental health problems for batterers (Recommendation number eight).
• Overarching vision and mission. Address recommendations by highest priority. Also having updates on the successes of recommendations completed.
• Have an honest conversation of the limitations that we see, speak of the strengths that Departments have or the agencies have that other departments do not have.
• Prioritize recommendations that could be focused down to become more manageable.
• Focus on the five-year plan and the meaningful long-term improvements.
• Discuss a press conference for the recommendations that have been completed.
• Bring more people involved with family violence in San Francisco to the table.

B. Protocol for Mandatory Reports of Domestic Violence Injuries by Health Care Providers (Recommendation 5)

Dr. Kimberg gave the group a summary of the medical protocol for mandatory reporting of domestic violence injuries. If a patient comes to a health care provider with physical injuries that the provider suspects are due to an assault, the medical personnel has to report that injury to the police. The law in California is unique in that the injury does not have to be life threatening to warrant mandatory reporting. These situations are incredibly complicated, and the goal is to try to develop a process where survivors have the highest level of control and the highest degree of safety, as well as transparency about what will happen once the report is made.

A supplemental form to the state created Health Practitioner Suspicious Injury Report is crucial because the state mandated form does not include local steps to follow (like where to send the form). A working group has created a draft policy, flow chart, and supplemental form.  Dr. Kimberg shared copies of the documents were with the group, and requested input. Jill Nielson would like to participate in the workgroup.

C. Presentation on LEP Workgroup (Recommendation 1A)

Samara Marion from the Office of Citizen Complaints presented on the LEP Workgroup she coordinates with staff from the San Francisco Police Department and community groups. The group is focusing on enhancing language access services and identifying bilingual officers. Community advocates are training the police on appropriate ways to speak with survivors and at risk populations. The group is working on recertification for bilingual officers, how to identify problem areas and solve the problems at the district station, and also creating a department bulletin for officers. Ultimately the group will go in front of the police commission to present recommendations.  

Arati Vasan noted that a key difference in how the workgroup functions is consistent personnel. It makes a difference when the same person attends the meetings.

V. Key Issues in Family Violence

Larry Yip from the Child Abuse Council discussed their efforts to deliver a data sharing program. A shared database is about to be built with the Children’s Advocacy Center.

 

       Next Meeting: February 15, 2017, 3:00 pm- 5:00 pm; 400 McAllister Street, Room 617