The grants to support families in the justice system program (referred to as the justice for families program) was authorized in the violence against women reauthorization act of 2013 to improve the…

The grants to support families in the justice system program (referred to as the justice for families program) was authorized in the violence against women reauthorization act of 2013 to improve the response of the civil and criminal justice system to families with a history of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, or in cases involving allegations of child sexual abuse. The program supports the following activities for improving the capacity of courts and communities to respond to families affected by the targeted crimes: court-based and court-related programs; supervised visitation and safe exchange by and between parents; training for people who work with families in the court system; civil legal services; and the provision of resources in juvenile court matters. Projects supported by the justice for families program are those that focus on keeping victims and their children safe from further abuse and holding offenders accountable. Through this continuation justice for families project, saving grace imagine life without violence, in partnership with the state of oregon 11TH judicial district, legal aid services of oregon, and deschutes county, oregon, will implement a standard project addressing the following purpose areas: 1) supervised visitation and safe exchange; and 5) court and court-based programs and services in deschutes county, oregon. The project will address priority area 3: underserved communities with partners serving spanish-speakers and the latino community. Specific activities will include: 1) providing supervised visitation and safe exchange services at marys place for over 30 families per month; 2) maintaining a 1.0 FTE bilingual spanish-speaking court advocate to provide advocacy to spanish-speaking and other survivors of domestic violence in the courthouse; and 3) establishing a referral process with legal aid for spanish-speaking survivors and other underserved, eligible survivors to legal aid for civil legal assistance and representation.