Fulton County Family Violence Task Force Meeting Minutes
November 18, 2015
New Task Force attendees:
RemcoBrummett - guest speaker from Hub (returning task force member)
Pam Harris - Connections Family Resource Center
Judge Robert McBurney, Fulton County Superior Court and Vice-Chair of GCFV
Naomi - A New Approach
Bill Cobb - Foundations Recovery (returning task force member)
Stacy Seldon –GCFV Family Violence Coordinator
Linda McCurdy - standing in for David Tillis
Welcome/Introductions:
Both co-chairs, Amanda Planchard and Lori Anderson in attendance.
Viewed memorial video for deceased DV victims in metro Atlanta. Video created by social work interns in Solicitor General’s office.
Amanda announced that everyone needs to accept the task force Google group invitation to ensure receipt of emails. Will resend invite once we clean out email listings.
Members can also heck our website or facebook page to find dates for upcoming meetings.
Motion approved to admit minutes from August 2015.
Old business:
HB 310 went into effect on July 1, 2015. Now allowed to toll probation warrants, but must be accompanied by a tolling affidavit when submitted to judge for signature. Stops clock until the person is brought back before the judge. Amanda caught up new attendees on the tolling issue (Sentinel v. Glover case). Now tolling can still happen, but there are safeguards to prevent tolling from happening for financial reasons.
New cases sentenced as of July 1, 2015 and thereafter fall under HB 310. If a person does not show up for a revocation hearing, the warrant can be tolled. Wilson v. State allows three ways to toll the defendant under HB 310, addressing Sentinel v. Glover.
Terry Parks asked what percentage of dismissed warrants were family violence cases. JCS will try to have that info for our February meeting.
Samantha Macedo reported on social media campaign. We created a template where people could fill in the blank after “Because a healthy relationship is ______,” and take and share a photo. We had a big response, and it was great to put a positive spin on what we do. This generated more activity on our facebook page than we’ve had since we started the facebook account. We even had participation from DV survivors who found it empowering.
Update on roll-call training videos. Clark Atlanta’s TV station is helping us put it together. They have put together the first video. We don’t have Wi-fi in here, so we couldn’t show it, but we have a draft of the first one. We gave them some feedback to put toward a final version. Once we have that one complete, we’ll probably film the others all in one day. Filming will probably begin in January.
Guest Speaker RemcoBrommet, The Hub Family Resource Center:
New agency in the North Fulton area. They do a needs-assessment and connect their clients with the appropriate service providers. Help clients identify what service providers can best meet their needs. Also are community-mapping their service providers. Police, courts, probations, hospitals, schools all referring to the Hub to identify needs of individuals with chronic behavioral or mental health problems. They will start offering parenting classes after the first of the year. Currently looking for locations in the community. Schools report that the biggest need they see is parenting education. Parents are intimidated by digital environment of schools. The Hub will be offering classes for parents to learn about technology and numerous other issues like substance abuse and parenting basics. Also maintain support groups on a variety of topics, and they are looking to include support groups for DV survivors. Want to bring services to north Fulton because most resources are downtown.
They are looking for providers who speak Spanish and operate on a sliding scale. Hard to find these types of providers in north Fulton. Still having to refer most of those clients to downtown or father south. Also looking for suitable providers for issues specific to the large Indian community in north Fulton.
They are currently funded by private and corporate donations, but are hoping to receive community grants in the future. There is a charge for their services.
Committee Reports
FVIP update: - given by Amanda Planchard in absence of David Tillis. Compliance reporting presentation available by e-mailing David. They are having good results with the universal compliance reporting form. Next meeting is the third Wednesday in January. Always on the third Wednesday of the month before the task force meets. Challenges include cultural competency and tracking long-term outcomes after FVIP completion.
Community Outreach update: Lavon Morris-Grant was not present at today’s meeting. Samantha Macedo reported on a PADV application for a grant to support activities during Crime Victims’ Week. Amanda reported that Chief State Court Judge Dixon supports her showing a video on domestic violence with a Q&A and a panel discussion after for judges. This would probably happen in April. Most likely will be a lunch & learn. Will schedule it around when we can maximize judge attendance, with a focus on Magistrates and State Court judges. Amanda discussed open monthly meetings for victims of FVIP enrollees to find out about FVIP and connect with community resources and safety planning. Her office is also looking at starting a DV support group in south Fulton, which they hope to start in 2016.
Fatality Review update: Samantha reported that we have reviewed the timeline, and have scheduled an interview with the victim’s best friend. The review meeting will be Wednesday, 12/16 from 9-12. Location TBD, will likely be where we have our task force meetings. Amanda will send an announcement from her county e-mail to avoid the problems with the Google group. We want to make sure the LGBT community is heard, so task force members are encouraged to invite people who work in DV in the LGBT community who might be interested. Case information is to be kept confidential.
Announcements:
Next year’s task force meetings: February 17, 2016; May 18, 2016; August 17, 2016; November 16, 2016
Atlanta Legal Aid is looking for a Spanish-speaking bilingual paralegal.
Atlanta Legal Aid is staffing the Family Law Information Center (FLIC) at the courthouse. Lori reported on regular FLIC appointments and the FLIC group clinic. We have been able to expand the services we can provide due to the new bar rules on conflicts and through help from contract attorneys.
The GA Commission will offer a training for law enforcement in December in Winder, GA. It’s through the Barrow County task force.