TRANSFORMING LEGAL SERVICES FOR SURVIVORS

Presented by:Cortney Fisher, JD, PhD, Office of Victim Services & Justice GrantsMeg Garvin, MA, JD, National Crime Victim Law InstituteKathrina Peterson, JD, Office for Victims of CrimeVikki Rompala, LCSW, Metropolitan Family Services

Presentation Overview• Introduction • Vision 21 Transforming Victim Services Final Report identified • Need legal services for survivors of crime• National evaluation plan

• Spotlight on the Networks:• Chicago Legal Assistance Network• DC Legal Assistance Network

• Training, Technical Assistance & Emerging Promising Practices• National Crime Victim Law Institute as TTA provider

• Questions

INTRODUCTION:FOUNDATION, VISION, IMPLEMENTATON

THE VISION• Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services Final Report (Vision 21 Report) –

http://ovc.ncjrs.gov/vision21/pdfs/Vision21_Report.pdf.

• “Victims of certain types of crime, such as identity theft and other forms of financial fraud, and human trafficking and domestic violence involving undocumented immigrants, may face seemingly insurmountable hurdles. Maneuvering through a virtual labyrinth of systems to address current circumstances and protect against the risk of future victimization is confusing at best, and overwhelming—even traumatizing—at worst.”

• “VOCA Administrators recognize the tremendous potential of comprehensive, wraparound legal assistance and voiced support for the concept, but do not have the resources to support these services.”

But now you do…and this is how you can do it!

NETWORK SPOTLIGHT #1:COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS

Wraparound Legal Assistance in Cook County Illinois

JOHN’S JOURNEY

Developing the Victim Legal Assistance Network: Different crime victim organizations across Cook County working on crime victimization issues in silos.Needs Assessment completed over two years:• Literature Review • Environmental Scan • Stakeholder Surveys –61 surveys • Client Surveys –1092 surveys • Client Focus Groups –20 people -4 groups • Client Interviews –8 Interviews

• Final implementation plan that developed from the needs assessment spoke to areas that can be strengthened through wraparound services.

• Needed Buy-In from Steering Committee to address these goals.  

• Improving Awareness• Improving Appropriate Referrals• Improving Service Access & Quality:

creating triage protocols & policies • Creating a central online service  

VLAN uses a multidisciplinary approach for creating a coordinated legal assistance network in support of victims of crime. The focus is on key areas of change including:

Online Education, Screening, and Intake Tools: Metropolitan LAS in collaboration with ILAO will create an online portal for victims and service providers that describes victim rights, connects victims to available resources, and allows victims to start the intake process.

Intake/Assessment, Referrals, and Protocols/Procedures: These protocols will be shared through training and education of network partners to increase awareness of services available, to utilize the assessment/ screening and safety planning tools across victimization types, and to provide appropriate referrals across the network so victims of crime have comprehensive access to holistic service needs. 

Direct-Services: Direct service roles will support ensuring that victims of crime receive the services they need and the rights to which they are entitled and a social work and law internship program will be developed to support trained staff to assist with clients needs.

Community Outreach and Education/ Training and Professional Development: An education plan will support the use of the web-based portal and increase awareness among available victim’s rights and service providers of victimization/legal services across the network. Cross-functional training will be provided on different victimization experiences across legal and social service providers.

V-LAN Steering Committee, Subcommittees, and Workgroups: The Steering Committee guides the focus and priorities of resources and will assist in the evaluation of the additional resources utilized during the grant period. Working sub-committees will inform the development of ongoing legal and social service resources to address gaps, barriers to access and care, and identify quality of care in the service provision.

Victim Legal Assistance Network (VLAN)

Work currently being completed: Journeys of Specific Crime Victimization Understanding ways to maximize

partnerships-shared training, Legal Server access, Internships, Documentation and sharing information guidelines

Outreach and Education on Identifying Crime Victims at different system entry points

• Challenges – – Turnover at agencies – Different ideas regarding focus of the service – Court systems that are less than helpful– No clear path currently for clients to understand

their choices and available resources – Segmented funding streams based on specific

victimization areas only

NETWORK SPOTLIGHT #2:WASHINGTON, DC

Victim Legal Network of DC: A Combined Local-Federal Approach

Cortney Fisher, JD, PhDDeputy Director for Victim Services

Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants

What Makes Us Unique?

• Small geographic area, but extremely high crime rate– Over 35,000 violent crimes reported per year– Over 100 homicides, 400 + sexual assaults, 30,000 calls for

domestic violence services per year

• Intersection of local and federal government– 20+ law enforcement agencies operational in DC– Metropolitan Police Department, Department of Forensic

Sciences, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner = local– United States Attorney’s Office = federal

Partnerships: The VOCA Administrator’s Role in Facilitation of Partnerships

OVSJGJaime Farrant · Cortney Fisher

NVRDCBridgette Harwood · Jabeen Adwai · Kristin

Eliaison · Matthew Ornstein

JRSAShawn Flower, Principal

Investigator

Victim Legal Network of DC Steering Committee OVSJG · NVRDC · JRSA · Office of the Attorney General · Wendt Center for Loss and Healing ·

Safe Shores · DC Volunteer Lawyers Project · George Washington University · DC SAFE

DC Victim Assistance Network

Domestic Violence

Legal Advocates

Group

Needs Assessment and Services: A Feedback Loop

Needs Assessment/Evaluation

: Survey of Legal Service

ProvidersWhat matters are you

handling? What training do you need?

Implementation Plan:Criminal rights representationCivil protection

Administrative/Education

Increase of Legal Service Providers:Break the Cycle · DC

Volunteer Lawyers Project · Ayuda · Office of the

Attorney General · Asian American Legal Resource Center · Central American Legal Resource Center · Legal Aid Society of DC ·

Amara · …

Outreach and Engagement:

Colleges and Universities · LEP · Disability Access ·

Elderly · Immigrants · Trafficking · Youth and Teens · Institutionalized

Impoverished

Challenges

Well…we are just learning…

• Enforcement– CVRA vs. DC Bill of Rights

• Partnership and Coordination– No local control of prosecutorial priorities

• Funding– VOCA– Locally appropriated funds

The Role of the VOCA Administrator

• Fund and Coordinate– VOCA can fund services that impact:

• Immediate health and safety…• Participation in the criminal justice system…• Special Services. Services to assist crime victims with

managing practical problems created by the victimization…

– VAWA can fund services that assist domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking…

– Other sources of funds – • Campus grants, Elder abuse services, …

The Role of the VOCA Administrator

• DC’s VLNDC –– $1,445,000 TOTAL• 210,000 VLNDC• $350,000 LOCAL funding• $800,000 VOCA• $250,000 VAWA

TRAINING, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE & EMERGING PROMISING PRACTICES

Who is NCVLI ?

A nonprofit educational & advocacy organization based at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon that works to actively

promote balance and fairness in the justice system through crime victim centered legal advocacy, education, and resource-sharing.

We have been pairing victims with trained lawyers and providing technical assistance to those lawyers since 2002.

www.ncvli.org

Our Job on this Project

Train• In person• Technology-

assisted

Technical Assistance• Program

development• Legal

National Network

• Create linkages

Document to Duplicate• Identify

promising practices

• Create blueprints

Our Partners

(c) 2010 P. Khalil

ABA Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence

Coalition to Abolish Slavery

& Trafficking

Maryland Crime Victims Resource

Center, Inc.

National Child Advocacy

Center

Common Challenges

& Lessons Learned

• Collection/return of victim surveys

• Sustaining partner buy-in

• Definition of “client”

• Mandatory reporting & other obligations

• Definition of “legal services”

• Rural services

Emerging Promising Practices

• Addressing Accessibility Early

• Navigator Model with Training

• Creating a Network Identity

• Being Victim-Centered at Every turn

• Thoughtful Integration of Technology

QUESTIONS