Travis County Commissioners Court
January 2, 2007
Item 16a
16. Review and approve requests regarding grant proposals, applications, contracts and permissions to continue: we approved b. A is grant application to u.s. Department of justice office of violence against women safe havens: supervised visitation and safe exchange grant program in the counseling and department. This grant will provide additional funding to the existing lifeworks kids exchange program; and --
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, I'm carol coleburn, director of counseling and education services. I have with me today angela at wood from life works. Of course you know katy peterson from p.b.o. We are here to request from the Commissioners court approval to -- to join in a collaborative effort to seek federal funding for the kids exchange program. And we do have -- we are -- you know we will answer any questions about it. It's at the very beginning stages. We have not applied yet. Actually today the two specific requests are -- are to approve the letter of intent, just that the county, you know, does want to join in this collaboration. And then if that's done to also authorize myself as the -- as the authorized grantee recipient official so I need to go online and do that as well.
>> well, I -- I just have one question regarding the proposed use of the grant money. It's very exciting to get this money. I utilize kids exchange in my protective order work. I know how valuable the service is. I was curious about the advisory board membership. It looks to be -- and having been a former prosecutor, it's perhaps odd for me to say this. It looks to be prosecution heavy. And -- and a little light on -- on the kind of professionals or advocacy that deal really with -- with what's best for families in this kind of crisis. So I was wanting a little more information there.
>> we were seeking to -- to bring in the family violence protection team partners and place and the -- safe place and the domestic relations officer. The family violence protection team includes the county attorney, district attorney, sheriff's office, the police department, women's advocacy and safe place. And then the -- the grant itself requests a lot of collaboration with judges or local courts that are in position to -- to refer. And so a big part of this grant is approving those systems of referral and improving how information gets disseminated, you know, throughout the area to make sure that people are in a position to mandate or recommend safe exchange or supervised visitation, know where it's available, when it's appropriate to include that. There's a training piece and then systems improvement.
>> so the -- the purpose of the advisory committee is really more about system improvement than it is about -- about the types of -- on the ground services provided to the families?
>> right.
>> okay.
>> then that answers -- that answers why it would be prosecution. I was looking oh, wow the a.g.'s office, the dro.
>> the public looking at this right now, just define exactly what the service provides.
>> well, 100% of the -- well -- about 100% of the funds will go towards a safe exchange and supervised visitation program and enhanced security. For the site. And life works, which already provides kids exchange services, will -- will expand from having two locations for safe exchange, which means a child whose parents for whatever reason cannot negotiate a safe exchange of their children or where there's family violence involved or intense parental conflict, safe exchange program allows for one parent to bring the child and the other parent to arrive to pick up the child without the parents having to see each other interact or -- or traumatize the child in any way through their own conflict or --
>> right.
>> behavior.
>> that's good to revisit that because -- because every once in a while we -- we have, you know, you come here and -- and of course we act accordingly to what some of these requests are. But then when you really want to get to the true meaning and definition of the service, sometimes that gets left out service the public hearing what we are doing here. I wanted to make sure that you basically lay that out so that the public can really know what we are doing. That was the purpose for the question.
>> is the guardian ad litem program included, is there any representation, dro?
>> primary partner. They currently are -- work very closely with life works in the kids exchange program and will provide us a lot of guidance as we are trying to improve the number of referrals. Some of the primary goals that we will have are performance measures will be about increasing the number of referrals. Currently we serve about 800 clients and provide about 3500 supervised visitation kids exchange services a year. We hope that increase by at least 30%, if not 50 percent with this new funding, to see an increase in referrals as well as have services at three locations rather than limited services at two.
>> this is an application. We have reason to believe that we will get this money?
>> we can feel confident. I think the family violence protection team, which has been in place since 1997, is funded by this same office of the department of justice and we have been recognized nationally for our work in that area. And we are collaborating intentionally for programmatic reasons as well as strategic reasons with family violence protection team.
>> this exchange has been in place how long?
>> I believe since the 1980's. But life works acquired the program in January of 2005. Trying to stabilize and grow it.
>> there's been a need for this for years. Apparently it's working pretty well.
>> it's working pretty well, we are ready to grow it, make sure that it's available to more families.
>> unfortunately the need keeps growing.
>> absolutely.
>> that's why I move approval.
>> second.
>> any more discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote. Thank you all for coming down.
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, January 210, 2007 8:14 AM