Meeting Information

family_violence_council

2009 2008 2007 

Family Violence Council:

Addressing Violence throughout the Lifespan

 

MINUTES

Thursday, January 17, 2008

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

400 McAllister St.Room 509

San Francisco, CA 94102

 

Members Present (denoted with x):

I.          CALL TO ORDER/ AGENDA CHANGES              

The Meeting was called to order at 3:10 p.m. 

Action: Approved the meeting agenda. (m/s/c: Twomey/Upton/Unanimous)

No public comment.

 

II.        APPROVAL OF MINUTES            

Action: Approved the meeting minutes from October 2, 2007. (m/s/c: Twomey/Ashe/Unanimous)

No public comment.

 

III.       OLD BUSINESS

 

A.        Short and long-term Action Plan       

Co-chairs briefly described the history of Family Violence Council, particularly the reasoning behind bringing child abuse, elder abuse, and domestic violence together in one place.  Using the example of mandated reporting requirements, co-chairs illustrated the benefits of looking at all three types of abuse together.  A new document was created (included in member’s packets) called “Mandated Reporting of Family Violence in San Francisco” which summarizes mandated reporting requirements for all three types of abuse.

 

The Council broke into small groups to brainstorm short and long-term projects and issues that might be undertaken by the Council.  The suggestions were:

• Cultural competency
• Access to services for all, including language access
• Better collaboration/coordination of services
• Reforming the police response to domestic violence involving children (long-term project)
• Reviewing death review procedures; issuing an annual report on deaths from child abuse, domestic violence, and elder abuse in San Francisco; examining the numbers and trends in family violence across the lifespan; presenting the findings to the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor (short-term project)
• Affordable housing for victims of abuse, including emergency shelter, transitional housing, etc.  Currently there are only 72 beds in SF for victims of abuse, and only 2 for elders.  Over 50% of domestic violence shelter residents are children.
• One-stop place for victims of family violence.  Every service provider should be able to link to the entire spectrum of services for victims of family violence with updated information.  Such a center would provide a more visible, quick, and consistent response.  This would not create new services, but instead create better coordination of existing resources.  For example, how does domestic violence fit into family support resources that are going out to the community via HSA and DCYF.  HSA has a MOU with Juvenile and Adult Probation for streamlined services. (mid-term project)
• Information sharing (short and long term) 
• Integration of Animal Care and Control into existing training about the issues.  Animal Control is often perceived as non-threatening by families, so they are able to go into homes and see if abuse is occurring.  They cross-report if an animal is abused and there are children or vulnerable adults present.
• Integrated training for 911 that is about all aspects of family violence, rather than one issue at a time
• Audit of City department protocols and policies related to family violence, asking, “What are you doing to prevent family violence?” (short term project)
• Develop media materials on the spectrum of family violence
• Resource lists like the one done by Dr. Kimberg for this meeting, particularly for out of county referrals as many agencies need to be able to make out of county referrals for clients.  Perhaps Family Violence Councils in other counties could collaborate on this.  Such lists must be updated at least every 6 months or they fall quickly out of date.
• Research what interventions are proven to prevent family violence, focusing on evidence-based solutions
• Consider how to effectively work with men who abuse, analyzing what works and what doesn’t; keeping abusers and batterers on our radars.  Note that 50% of those who abuse their partners also abuse children.  It is therefore very relevant to look at batterers/abusers across the lifespan.  Batterer intervention programs are not held accountable by anyone/any department.  The FVC should hold them accountable.  How effective are the programs?  What services are available?  Which programs are effective?  There are currently no programs in San Francisco for child abusers, but the state requires those abusers to participate in a 52 week program.  We need to form a committee of FVC on batterers.  The Steering Committee agreed to bring a proposal back to the FVC on this topic.
• Create a media/press/communications plan about family violence

 

IV.       NEW BUSINESS                                                                               

 

A.        Language Access: OLS Director Tomas Lee                      

Tomas Lee, the Director of the Office of Language Services (OLS) presented to the FVC.  A report on their activities was included in FVC packets, but he summarized that information during his presentation:

• His office has completed a master contract for telephonic translation services, available 24/7, for all Tier 1 criminal justice agencies in SF.
• OLS held a press conference with DOSW to announce the availability of cell phones dedicated to the Language Line, to be used while out in the field.  AT&T donated the phones, and they are in use by SFPD, APD, DA, and other departments.
• OLS is working on a web translation project for Tier One city departments.
• OLS is working on the possibility of offering classes to improve the bilingual skills and cultural competency of current city employees/officers.  They hope to create a training that employees will be willing to participate in.
• Mr. Lee suggested integrating requests for interpreter/language access money into department budgets now, rather than adding it as an afterthought.  People were reminded that it is a federal requirement to be language accessible.  There is also a city ordinance that requires Tier 1 city departments to report on their language capacity.
• To contact Tomas Lee, call 554-7408.
• In response to participant questions, Mr. Lee informed the group that the phones are available to non-criminal justice agencies.  Also, Mr. Lee reported on the language capacity of different departments, stating that 1900 City employees are certified as bilingual.  OLS will submit the Executive Summary of an OLS report on City department language capacity to the Council. 

 

B.        Appointment of New Voting Members

A motion was made to add the Public Defender, the Department of Animal Care and Control, and the SF Unified School District to the FVC membership, and it was unanimously approved.

 

C.        Resource and Reporting Card                      

The Steering Committee presented a revised resource card including resources for child abuse, domestic violence, and elder/dependent adult abuse.  They also presented a Mandated Reporting Guide with local contacts and codes for mandatory reporting of abuse across the lifespan.  Any changes to the Resource or Reporting Cards should be submitted to laura.marshall@sfgov.org or jill.tregor@sfgov.org

 

D.        Violence Prevention Plan      

Maya Dillard Smith of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice presented to the group about the Violence Prevention Plan.  There was a 12-month, comprehensive planning process, with community representation and City departments.  The plan was adopted by the Mayor.  The approach to violence prevention is comprehensive, looking at street, youth, child, domestic, and other types of violence.  The focus is on coordination of services, accountability, and outcomes.  It looks to build strengths and capacity city-wide.  We know that family violence is “less visible than homicide” but that it is still significant.  Ms. Dillard Smith stated that “we know we need to do better” to strengthen strategies around family violence.  Ms. Upton notes that Ms. Dillard Smith has been a great ally in looking at family violence within the Violence Prevention Plan.  She further noted that homicides in SF generally involve people who were from families where there is domestic violence, child abuse, etc., and 80% of children involved in firearm violence have domestic violence in their backgrounds.  The group discussed the need for a media strategy as part of the Violence Prevention Plan that educates the media about family violence versus street violence. Ms. Dillard Smith was reminded that batterer treatment and intervention needs to be in the Prevention Plan as well.

 

 

 

E.         Current Trends in Family Violence

The Steering Committee included this agenda item as a way for the disparate groups to inform one another about trends or issues emerging in their various fields: 

• Department of Emergency Management (DEM) noted a decrease in crime reporting last year, but doesn’t know why this has occurred.  Discussion about the possible causes included a possible decrease in the public’s trust of government.  DEM asked if other departments had seen a drop in requests for services.
• Human Services Agency (HSA) has seen a drop in families coming in for services, which they believe is due to so many families being forced to leave the City due to economics.
• Elder Abuse has seen a 40% increase in cases since 2005.
• The National Institute for Justice (NIJ) claims that domestic violences cases reported to law enforcement are down, but community based organizations are not seeing the same drop in cases.
• The San Francisco Elder Abuse Forensic Center launched this week, with a combination of public and private funding.
• There was a suggestion that the faith community be represented on the FVC.
• It was noted with appreciation that the Family Court was in attendance at the meeting.
• The Domestic Violence Consortium reported a concern that victims of domestic violence who were monolingual immigrants were being arrested as perpetrators due to language barriers.  This seems to be a growing trend in San Francisco.
• Online harassment/stalking has become a growing concern, as opportunities abound with services such as MySpace, text messaging, etc. It was noted that the SFUSD commissioned a safety survey that includes a question about cyber-bullying.
• It was requested that a future FVC meeting include a report from SFUSD about their violence preventions programs.

 

V.         PUBLIC COMMENT                                                           

There was no public comment.

                                               

VI.       ADJOURNMENT                                                     

Family Violence Council adjourned at 4:30 pm.

 

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