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Family Justice Center Alliance

What is a Family Justice Center?

The Family Justice Center Movement continues to grow across the country and around the world. Today, there are over 100 Family Justice Centers and Multi-Agency models across the United States, with many more in development. Family Justice Centers have demonstrated their positive impact on collaboration and coordination, increasing hope and access to services for survivors and their children.

This course focuses on what a Family Justice Center (FJC) is, how it works, and where to start in dreaming about an FJC in your community. Starting from the beginning, it covers the vision and history that launched the Family Justice Center Movement and highlights the world’s first FJC, the San Diego Family Justice Center. Through a photo tour of present-day FJCs, the course further dives into what an FJC is and both the benefits and challenges of a collaborative model. The course concludes by providing action items for getting started in dreaming about an FJC in your community and learning more about the framework.

Course Objectives:

  1. Define what a Family Justice Center is
  2. Highlight the FJC Guiding Principles and accountability to survivors
  3. Dive into core partners and services
  4. Share the spectrum of FJCs across the country and around the world
  5. Identify next steps for learning more about the FJC framework

Training Length: 1 Hour and 7 Minutes

 

Your Instructor:

Gael Strack is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Alliance for HOPE International. The Alliance oversees the National Family Justice Center, Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, Camp HOPE America, VOICES and the Justice Legal Network. Gael is an internationally recognized expert in non-fatal strangulation cases and regularly trains on numerous topics. Gael is also an Adjunct Professor at California Western School of Law teaching a class on “Domestic Violence and the Law”.

 

 

 

 

Casey Gwinn – Casey Gwinn is the President and Co-Founder of the Alliance. He is the visionary behind the Family Justice Center Movement, first proposing the concept of the Family Justice Center model in 1989. Casey founded Camp HOPE America in 2003. He is a national expert on domestic violence dynamics, including investigation and prosecution, the handling of non-fatal strangulation cases, and is one of the leading thinkers in the country on the science of hope. Prior to this position, Casey was the elected San Diego City Attorney.

 

 

 

Course Outline:

Lesson 1: Introduction (7 minutes)

Module Overview:

  1. A Brief History – Casey Gwinn, President, Alliance for HOPE International

Lesson 2: The Vision and History of Family Justice Centers (13 minutes)

Module Overview:

  1. Definition of a Family Justice Center (FJC)
  2. The Vision for the FJC model
  3. Complexities of navigating a non-collaborative system
  4. Survivor feedback for a collaborative, co-located model
  5. A timeline from the initial vision to the grand opening of the first FJC

Lesson 3: The World’s First FJC: The San Diego Family Justice Center (16 minutes)

Module Overview:

  1. Photo tour of the original San Diego Family Justice Center
  2. The intentional design of the physical space
  3. Overview of both onsite and offsite partners
  4. The President’s Family Justice Center Initiative
  5. Camp HOPE America and the VOICES Survivor Advocacy Network

Lesson 4: The Movement Continues to Move (13 minutes)

Module Overview:

  1. Photo tour of FJCs around the world today
  2. Spotlight of innovative services
  3. Measuring impact and long-term outcomes of FJCs
  4. Benefits of the framework
  5. Challenges of the framework

Lesson 5: Getting Started – The Lone Nut (18 minutes)

Module Overview:

  1. Resources for learning more about the framework
  2. Video of the Lone Nut
  3. How to start dreaming about a Center in your community