Across the country and around the world… community leaders, advocates, law- enforcement agencies, service providers, shelters, and concerned community leaders are exploring the possibility of starting a Family Justice Center in their own community. A Family Justice Center is a “one stop shop” approach to services for victims of family violence and their children.

Based on the groundbreaking work of Casey Gwinn, J.D. and Gael Strack, J.D. in San Diego, California, communities are pursuing wraparound service delivery models with victims of abuse all modeled after the San Diego Family Justice Center created by former San Diego City Attorney Casey Gwinn in 2002. Now operating as the National Family Justice Center Alliance (FJCA), the founders of the original San Diego Family Justice Center model are working with communities across the country and around the world.

The San Diego FJCA Team (Casey Gwinn, Gael Strack, Judi Adams, Jim Barker, Jennifer Bodine, Tim Campen, Brenda Lugo, Diane McGrogan and Charles Wilson) has had the opportunity to work with more than 35 different Family Justice Centers in their planning and implementation processes over the past five years. Some were funded through the President’s Family Justice Center Initiative and others struck out on their own seeking funding from a variety of other sources. Three distinct phases of planning and development are called for when starting a Family Justice Center.

Phase I – Getting Ready has to do with assessing a community’s readiness for creating a Family Justice Center. Each community has its own level of readiness. Some communities see the vision; get it and are ready to jump right in and start the planning process. They have all the key players in place, partnerships are lined up and partners are ready to participate, and public buy-in and local funding have been secured.

In other communities there a few key people who are just beginning to explore the feasibility of what it would take to get a few more good people together to talk about starting a Family Justice Center. They see the vision, but aren’t sure how to share it with other folks.

The Family Justice Center Alliance Team has worked with worked with communities that have a little bit of both; some buy in, some support, some hesitancy, and lots of questions about what it would mean to start a Family Justice Center.

Strategic Planning…In all cases, the Family Justice Center Alliance Team has been able to help communities work through their questions and come to a decision about whether or not they are ready to move forward. For those that are ready, the National FJC Alliance (FJCA) provided a customized strategic planning process that created a road map for implementation. For those that were not yet ready for co-located, multi-disciplinary services, FJCA was able to help identify the assessment steps necessary for moving forward. The planning process also benefits from the use of the two seminal books in the field, written by Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack. The first book, Hope for Hurting Families: Creating Family Justice Centers Across America (Volcano Press, 2006) is available from www.volcanopress.com.  Casey and Gael’s first book documents the tremendous success of the San Diego Family Justice Center and the philosophical basis for the Family Justice Center movement.  The second book, Hope for Hurting Families II: How to Start a Family Justice Center (Operation for Hope Publishing, 2007), is often used as a workbook during the planning and implementation phases.  This helpful “how to” manual is available at www.familyjusticecenter.org or can be ordered from the publisher at www.operationforhope.org. 

Phase II – Implementation has to do with helping a community put their strategic plan into action in order to get their Center open and operating. The distance from a strategic planning to opening day depends upon a community’s readiness. But, whatever the distance, individual and team coaching along with regular progress reviews, are key elements that the FJCA Team provides along the way; from policies and procedures, to volunteer manuals and job descriptions, to teambuilding, board development, sustainability planning, and capacity building.

Phase III – Forming Alliances: Once a Family Justice Center is open, a whole new level of support is called for. Phase III has to do with joining the National Family Justice Center Alliance (NFJCA) for long term support, enhancement, and interaction with other Family Justice Centers.  NFJCA also sponsors an annual International Family Justice Center Conference each April to provide support and training to operating and developing Centers around the world. For more information and a description of the services available to help you start a Family Justice Center in your community, Contact Casey Gwinn, J.D. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Gael Strack This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or Judi Adams This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it