Family Violence Council DRAFT Minutes

3:00-5:00 pm February 17, 2016

400 McAllister, Room 617

San Francisco, CA 94102

Present:

Mayor, or designee: Paul Henderson

President of the Board of Supervisors, or designee: Iris Wong

District Attorney, or designee: Elizabeth Aguila-Tarchi, Gena Castro-Rodriguez

Chief of Police, or designee: Lt. Edward Santos

Sheriff, or designee: Sheriff Vicki Hennessy

President of Commission on the Status of Women, or designee: Olga Ryerson, Dr. Emily Murase

Director of Domestic Violence Consortium: Beverly Upton

Chief of Adult Probation, or designee: Ramona Massey, Andrea Wright

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

Director of San Francisco Child Abuse Council, or designee: Abigail Stewart-Kahn

Director of the Department of Public Health, or designee: Carol Schulte

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

Director of Department of Child Support Services, or designee: Thomas Wolf

Superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District, or designee: Erik Martinez

Absent:

Chair of the Consortium of Batterers Intervention Programs, or designee

Chief of Juvenile Probation

Chief of the Fire Department

Director of Department of Animal Care and Control, or designee

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

Executive Director of Department of Emergency Management, or designee

Human Resources Director, or designee

Director of Human Services Agency, or designee

Presiding Judge of the Superior Court, or designee

Public Defender, or designee

Other attendees:

Una Bailey, SFPD; Robin Brasso, NCJW; Kim Coats, SFUSD; Narda Gillespie, SFPD; Tamari Hedani, Institute on Aging; Jason Hui, SFPD; Minouche Kandel, DOSW; Anna Marjavi, Futures without Violence; Jerel McCrary, Bay Area Legal Aid; Shelli Rawlings Fein, First 5; Alana Rotti, DOSW; Nicolette Severson, DOSW; Sai-Ling Chan-Sew, Northeast Medical Services; Connie Swain, La Casa de las Madres; Arati Vasan, API Legal Outreach  

1. Introductions

2. Minutes from 11/18/15 were approved. Agenda was approved. [Paul Henderson/Liz Tarchi]

III.          Introduction from Sheriff Vicki Hennessy

Sheriff Hennessy briefly introduced herself, and said she is looking forward to working with the Council.  

IV.          Family Violence Council Recommendations on Elder Abuse: Lt. Ed Santos

Lt. Edward Santos gave an update on recommendations 4 and 5 from the 2014 Family Violence Council Report. He talked about the progress made in handling elder abuse cases over the past year, especially as a result of collaboration. These cases are extraordinarily complex and difficult, and take a lot of time, effort, and planning, and cases can quickly backlog. Now that 3 more investigators have been assigned specifically to elder abuse (recommendation 5), there is no longer a backlog. He has worked hard to get investigators the training they need to investigate elder abuse. San Francisco Police Department Inspectors Jason Hui and Narda Gillespie, who are assigned to elder abuse, briefly spoke. Both underlined the complexity of elder abuse cases and the vulnerability of the victims. Officer Gillespie noted that elder abuse cases are as complex as domestic violence cases and should have similar attention.  

V.           2014 Family Violence Council Report Executive Summary: Minouche Kandel

The Family Violence Council Report has been emailed, and is also available on the DOSW website. The Executive Summary of the 2014 Report was distributed. Recommendation #1 was to come up with a standardized data collection protocol, which was completed. Along with Lt. Santos’ update on recommendations #4 and #5, we are making good progress. The 2015 report will include a lengthy Executive Summary separated by type of violence, which will make for clearer take-aways.

Minouche has put in a request to present the 2014 Report to the Board of Supervisors, and is currently waiting on a date for that, sometime this Spring.

VI.          5 year plan to address Family Violence

The Mayor’s office has requested a 5-year plan to address Family Violence. The Family Violence tri-chairs and Department on the Status of Women assembled an initial draft, starting with a build out of recommendations from the 2014 Family Violence Council Report. Paul Henderson spoke briefly about the Mayor’s commitment to these issues. Minouche Kandel went through the draft 5-year plan and summarized each point, after which the group provided feedback. Major critiques and recommendations were:

Several people spoke to the importance of expanded language services, beyond the language line, in support of #3 on the plan. These could be in the form of staff positions specific to agencies, or through a type of “city bank” of staff who can be called on from multiple agencies. If through a “city bank” type of model, staff would need knowledge of citywide systems. There is also a model of interpreters who are specially trained in family violence issues and interpretation, and available on-call (used by Asian Women’s Shelter). Different needs for different agencies, some might need translators on staff in-house. Also, the issue of how nonprofits can pay for these services, and ways for these services to be “folded in” to government grants. Alameda County provides this to agencies it funds. One proposal was to give nonprofits free access to the city’s Language Line account.

It was recommended that the focus of the plan be expanded to include supplementing services provided by nonprofits. The current plan calls for several new city agency positions, which are much more expensive than nonprofit staff. One of the recommendations was to have a position for someone to write grants that fund both city agencies and nonprofits.

Another suggestion was to specifically mentor children who are exposed to violence, not just child abuse victims. The last recommendation included a position for someone who looks at how all types of violence work together.

Another recommendation was to use the term “older adults” instead of “seniors,” which may be outdated. Also noted was the need for shelter beds for older adults and adults with disabilities who are abused. A possible idea is to collaborate with the new Department on Homelessness. Might consider looking into PATCH system for housing—Department of Public Health mental health services has funding for individuals who are in the behavioral health system where they pay the difference between housing cost and incomes.

Another recommendation to see targeted mental health services for older adult victims of abuse is in the plan.

There was also a comment about the need for a welcoming space in which to provide services for victims. No privacy is re-traumatizing, and Victim Services doesn’t always have a private space.

Decision to move the Plan forward

The Council discussed how to move the plan forward. There was an agreement to hold a conference call on Monday, February 22nd at 3pm. The Council decided to vote on the plan in principle, as fine-tuned by the conference call. The Council approved the plan, with the understanding it would be further revised after more input from the conference call. [Liz Tarchi/Emily Murase]

VII.         Update on Justice and Courage Committee: Liz Tarchi

Liz Tarchi updated the Council on the Justice and Courage Committee. Progress is being made, especially concerning policies to address “gone on arrivals” where the suspect is not at the scene. Special Victims Unit is now updating its protocol on how these are dealt with. The Committee is also keeping lethality checklists for first-responders so no one falls through the cracks. There are also meetings to update the form used by health care providers to report domestic violence to the police.

VIII.       Presentation on Elder Justice Committee: Tamari Hedani

The first meeting of the Elder Justice Committee was at beginning of the year, during which the members set out long and short term goals. Cross-reporting elder abuse and ways to streamline were discussed. The group is developing an elder abuse checklist, a supplementary document for San Francisco Police Department, using similar checklists from other states for ideas. The API Elder Abuse Task Force Brown Bag Series begins March 14, covering issues such as financial abuse, and adults with vulnerabilities. Flyer will be sent to Minouche and distributed.

IX.          Sentencing Commission Update: Jerel McCrary

The principal item at the December 9^th meeting was the annual report and improving a consistent definition of recidivism. A new fellow from the Goldman School of Public Policy will help move this along. The 2015 annual report highlights items including enhanced staffing, developmental research partnerships, expanded membership of the Sentencing Commission, incorporating trauma-informed approaches, and creating a recidivism dashboard in the computer system. Next year, they look toward reauthorization of the Commission, follow up on Young Adult Court, expansion of the Young Adult court, continuing to outcomes of Prop 47, and moving forward on law assisted diversion program. The next meeting is March 30.

X. Announcement on upcoming Issues: Minouche Kandel

Minouche announced that the next meeting will include a check in on language issues, and a preview of the 2015 FVC report.

XI. Public Comment

Robin Brasso briefly discussed the new draft of the rape kit law.

XII. Motion to adjourn [Ed Santos/Beverly Upton]

Meeting was adjourned. Next meeting is May 18, 2016.