National Family Justice Center Alliance

The National Family Justice Center Alliance (National Alliance) was launched in 2006 in response to the increasing demand for technical assistance from existing and pending Centers across the world. Using a model of collaboration to provide “wraparound” services from one location, the family justice center concept seeks to marshal all available resources in a community into a coordinated, centralized service delivery system with accountability to victims and survivors for the effectiveness of the model.

National and International Focus: The National Alliance serves as the official technical assistance provider for the United States Department of Justice for federally funded centers. In October, 2003, President George W. Bush announced the creation of the President’s Family Justice Center Initiative. The $20 million Initiative began a movement toward more “one stop shop,” co-located, multi-disciplinary service centers. The President based his Initiative on the San Diego Family Justice Center model (www.familyjusticecenter.org) which opened in 2002 with staff from 27 public and private agencies co-located together in order to reduce the number of places victims of domestic violence, [...] assault and elder abuse must go to receive needed services. While including many partners, the basic partners in any Family Justice Center are police officers, prosecutors, and community-based advocates.

The National Alliance also works with centers outside the federal initiative and abroad. There are currently 30 operational centers in the United States with an additional three international centers operating in Croydon, England; Monterey, Mexico; and Waterloo, Canada. There are approximately 10 centers pending in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Germany, Samoa, South Africa, Jordan and Bahrain.

In addition to technical assistance and consulting, the National Alliance hosts an annual international conference, provides shared learning opportunities such as staff exchange programs, international internships, web-based education programs, and training in the area of family violence.

References

1. United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. PFJCI Best Practices, 2007.

2. [National Family Justice Center Alliance] ([www.familyjusticecenter.org]).