February 16, 2011

 

Family Violence Council:

Addressing Violence throughout the Lifespan

 

DRAFT MINUTES

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

San Francisco Civil Court

400 McAllister St., Room 509

San Francisco, CA 94102

 

 

I.          Call to Order/Agenda Changes

Kathy Baxter called the meeting to order at 3:09 pm. The Council approved the agenda as proposed [Upton, Kimberg, All].

 

II.        Introductions

Council members and attendees introduced themselves.

 

Kathy Baxter announced that Laura Marshall, staff for the Council, will be leaving the Department on the Status of Women to take a job at the Department of Public Health beginning in March, making this her last Council meeting.  Several members of the Council thanked Ms. Marshall for her contributions to the work of the Council and other related work since she began with the Department in 2007.

 

1.         Natalie Davidson, SFUSD Student Advisory Council

Natalie Davidson, a senior at Lowell High School, served on the San Francisco Youth Commission for 2 years, and was the chair of the Health and Wellness Committee. Last year, she drafted a detailed resolution on the creation of Wellness Centers, and this year, she is attempting to create a task force to implement the measures proposed in the resolution.

 

Ms. Davidson provided a handout describing her proposal, and indicated that she can provide documentation of her evidence upon request. She proposes a comprehensive reevaluation of health education in public schools by creating a task force of educators, students, health providers, and community organizations that would vet and improve the health education curriculum for students throughout the SFUSD. The areas of priority that Ms. Davidson highlighted were sexual education, depression, teen dating violence, nutrition, and negative body image.

 

Sonia Melara, Director of Rally Visitation Services and a Health Commissioner, told Ms. Davidson that much work is happening at the Department of Public Health in these areas, and she will connect Ms. Davidson with people who can help with this project. Ms. Melara informed the group that DPH is developing a 10-year report card for the City, and the task force could connect with this project as a method of tracking its progress. She also mentioned that this topic could be added to the Health Commission agenda.

 

Ilsa Bertolini of the SFUSD Wellness Centers, invited Ms. Davidson to come to the Wellness Center to look at the current materials available for teachers to use educate students about these topics. She informed Ms. Davidson that health education is mandated for K-12 classrooms, but it may not always get done because it is not a part of standardized testing. Ms. Bertolini informed the group that ALL health education programming is grant funded; there is no line-item in the school district budget for this work. Funding comes from Prop H, state, and federal funding. Ms. Bertolini stated that the Wellness Centers have lesson plans addressing all of the priority areas that Ms. Davidson raised, but that does not mean that they are making their way to the classroom. She is able to show what schools are teaching each lesson. 

 

Mary Twomey asked that the curricula not just address teen dating violence, but all forms of family violence, including elder abuse.

 

When asked how the Council can support her work, Ms. Davidson stated she needs people willing to be on the task force, investing time in the process of creating standards. It will be located as a committee under the School Board. Ms. Melara indicated that it may be good to involve the Board of Supervisors in this work, either by putting the committee under its auspices or through a supportive resolution. This may help institutionalize the task force in the budget.

 

She provided her email address (Natalie_davidson@sbcglobal.net), and affirmed that a letter of support from the Council to the School Board would help.

 

Inspector Tony Flores of the SFPD asked how this type of education could be brought to the private schools. This seems to be an ongoing challenge, as they are not under the jurisdiction of the School Board. Nancy Kirshner-Rodriguez of the Mayor’s Office asked whether they might be other forums to reach these youth, such as sports leagues or community groups. She noted that San Francisco has the lowest percentage of students in public schools and highest percentage in private in the state. Veronica Martinez of DCYF said that her agency has nutrition programs and after school programs that might be good venues for this type of education.

 

Ms. Upton suggested that Ms. Davidson put together a fact sheet about her proposal, including the time commitment for task force members, and distribute it to the Council for help with outreach.

 

III.       Minutes

The Council approved the minutes from November 17, 2010 [Slabach, Flores, All].

 

 

 

 

 

IV.       Business

 

A.        Updates from Agencies

The Co-Chairs added this item to the agenda to allow agencies to update the Council about changes in leadership or structure that may have taken place since November.

 

Maggie Donahue of the Human Services Agency reported that there have been no changes at that department, but a community provider, Positive Directions, has gone out of business since its DPH contract ended. It lost 60% of its budget, and its doors will close in March. Family and Children’s Services at HSA has a domestic violence advocate located at Positive Directions to work with Bayview families, and FCS is working to incorporate her position into the Riley Center instead so as not to lose the position. Ms. Donahue commented that San Francisco is losing batterer intervention programs, and there are few resources that work with whole families. This is a need that should be addressed.

 

Commissioner Marge Slabach informed the Council that she will be retiring in April. She has requested that the Family Court supervising judge attend himself or assign another commissioner to attend the Family Violence Council in his place.

 

Chief Wendy Still of the Adult Probation Department reported no major changes to her department, but requested that the agenda for this meeting be adjusted slightly. She needed to leave early and wanted to report out about the Child Abuse Intervention Program Feasibility Review for her department.

 

B.        Child Abuse Intervention Program

Chief Still is in full support of the plan proposed by the Intervention Committee and approved by the Council in November 2010. However, implementation by her department requires additional resources.  She will include it in her budget request, but stated that the project will likely need outside support to make it happen. She will need 1 dedicated probation officer to staff the program. She will continue with her plan to approach Title IVE for funds, but that may not be applicable unless there is imminent risk to a child. Program implementation may require a “re-alignment” by the Board of Supervisors, and the Council may need to wait until the budget process goes through to see if funding is available.

 

Ms. Baxter noted that she is in the process of setting up meetings with the Department of Public Health about their involvement in this project. Chief Still suggested that a private grant for a pilot project may be a good option, and Zellerbach often supports child-related issues. Ms. Baxter stated that this conversation may align with the other that Ms. Donahue raised about batterer intervention programs disappearing. Chief Still informed the Council that APD is assisting a psychologist from VIP in a study about batterer intervention program effectiveness.  Council co-chairs will set up a meeting with Chief Still to discuss the best ways to proceed on the child abuse intervention program.

 

A.        Updates from Agencies (cont.)

Inspector Flores offered his thanks to Commissioner Slabach for her work on the Family Court. He indicated that he would like to sit down with the new commissioner on her bench to train them on the police processes. Commissioner Slabach stated that the 2 incoming commissioners have extensive experience in both criminal and family court and should be good fits for her courtroom.

 

Mary Twomey reported that, for the first time ever, the federal Department of Health and Human Services proposed funding for Adult Protective Services. This is usually a state and county line item, and it may be cut, but it is promising that the federal government has proposed to fund these agencies.

 

Ms. Kirshner-Rodriguez raised the need to train all the new elected officials about the issues of family violence. She stated that the Council needs to do site visits and put its name and its issues front and center with the Board of Supervisors and the Mayor.

 

Inspector Flores provided an update about the Police Department. The previous Chief of Police had contemplated disbanding the Domestic Violence Response Unit, but the advocacy of the community kept the unit centralized at the Hall of Justice. Inspector Flores reported that the inspectors and officers on the street also want a centralized unit. He indicated that there is a strong possibility of the Police Department forming an Elder Abuse Unit let by Lt. Art Stellini. This will be a good move, but will likely diminish the DVRU by 2 inspectors. The DVRU has been involved in training officers about elder abuse using a federal grant, and anecdotal evidence shows that APS is seeing increased cooperation from SFPD officers. Based on the recommendation of the Family Violence Council, the Police Department has worked with 911 to develop new call codes specific to child abuse and elder abuse. A bulletin about these codes is in its final stages and the codes will be ready to launch next month. Inspector Flores will be presenting information about U Visas at a national conference for homicide inspectors being held in San Francisco this spring.

 

Maria Bee, Director of the District Attorney’s Office Victim Services Unit, reported that her office is still unclear about what changes will result from the appointment of George Gascon as District Attorney. There will likely be some restructuring of the office, but it is likely that family violence will not suffer for the changes. DA Gascon has long been an advocate of alternative courts, so there may be some decentralization of units.

 

Dr. Leigh Kimberg reported that DPH has a new director, Dr. Barbara Garcia, who is very supportive of family violence prevention efforts. Restructuring and changes can create new opportunities, but Dr. Kimberg warned that it could also be an opportunity for family violence issues to get lost or ignored. For example, she noted that DPH will be implementing a new electronic medical records system which could potentially track family violence indicators. However, if the confidentiality concerns or other issues are not addressed, or the issue of family violence tracking isn’t raised at the right time, it could get lost because it is such a complex issue. Dr. Kimberg commented that there is a tension in medicine to come up with quick fixes that don’t always get to the root of trauma or deeper issues. There are no efficacy studies on medical setting interventions into family violence. This means that she can’t prove that these interventions are cost effective. The medical community knows that domestic violence costs more in general, but there are no studies to show what medical setting interventions actually work.

 

Ms. Melara mentioned the DPH 10-year report card as a means of tracking program effectiveness. She stated that the report card needs indicators that point to family violence. Dr. Kimberg stated that it would be a good thing if every child in the DPH system was evaluated for an ACE score. ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences, and the score, or how many experiences a child has, can directly indicate future health risks and outcomes. Members of the Council suggested bringing someone to a meeting to talk about the ACE study.

 

Inspector Flores asked Dr. Kimberg about the electronic medical reports and how that will impact the mandated domestic violence reports he receives from doctors. They will talk off-line about this issue.

 

Ms. Bertolini made a plug for the school district’s mentoring program. It involves 1 hour per week with a middle school student. She urged members to be mentors themselves or spread the word.

 

C.        Comprehensive Report on Family Violence in San Francisco, 2010

This item was tabled until May due to lack of time.

 

D.        2011 Council Work Plan

The Council reviewed the 2011 Council Work Plan, which was based on the recommendations approved in the Comprehensive Report on Family Violence in San Francisco, 2010. Ms. Baxter explained that the Council co-chairs determined whether the recommendation was new or in progress already, what type of action would be needed to move it forward or if it only needed monitoring by the Council, and what tools or strategies would be used. This information has been included for each item in the work plan. She noted that the work plan does not preclude ad hoc items coming up.

 

Helen Hale of First 5 SF noted that there was a hole in terms of the monitoring of batterer intervention programs, as discussed earlier in the meeting. Ms. Upton commented that the Justice and Courage Oversight Panel, a committee of the Commission on the Status of Women, also has BIPs on its agenda, and will be able to more closely track that work. However, the Council can leave the BIP item on its own agenda as well, for monitoring only.

 

Ms. Martinez noted that DCYF has taken notice of family violence in its own work, and has met with the co-chairs of the Family Violence Council about work plan item #7, involving the Violence Prevention Plan. Ms. Martinez reiterated statements from the last meeting that the VPAC has not been established and may have another name when it has been started. She asked that the recommendation include the language with the collaboration and guidance of the Family Violence Council” because DCYF only has real expertise in street and youth violence issues.

 

Ms. Kirshner-Rodriguez commented that children engaged in street violence are likely to have family violence in their backgrounds as well. Ms. Martinez agreed and stated that this is why DCYF has reached out to the Family Violence Council for support in creating the Violence Prevention Plan. The Work Plan will also be amended to include language such as “FVC urges DCYF as the lead agency” instead of using the VPAC terminology.

 

The Council approved the 2011 Work Plan as amended [Slabach, Flores, All].

 

V.        Public Comment

None.

 

VI.       Adjournment

The Council adjourned in honor of Commissioner Carolene Marks of the Commission on the Status of Women, who passed away on Sunday, February 13, 2011. The Council adjourned at 4:35 pm.