Family Justice Center Initiative

Family Justice Centers are multi-agency, multi-disciplinary, co-located centers that provide services to domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse victims. They may also address elder or dependent adult abuse and human trafficking. Family Justice Centers convene existing public and private agencies who co-locate staff in one centralized, convenient location where victims and their families can go to receive an array of services to promote their safety and well-being. The model seeks to alleviate many of the obstacles that hinder victims, such as traveling to multiple locations to receive services and repeating their story to multiple agencies. The model is identified as a best practice in the field of domestic violence intervention with documented and published outcomes including reduced homicides, increased victim safety, increased autonomy and empowerment for victims, reduced fear and anxiety for victims and their children, and reduced recantation and minimization by victims. For more information on Family Justice Centers, please visit www.familyjusticecenter.org or watch What is a Family Justice Center? by the FJC Alliance.

CJCC launched the Statewide Family Justice Center Initiative in May 2020 and is the third state in the nation to launch such a program. After a competitive solicitation process, three communities were awarded a four-year funding opportunity from Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funds on November 1, 2020. Funds support the planning and implementation process to open a family justice center by the first quarter of the third grant year.

The following agencies receive funding under the Family Justice Center Initiative. Each agency employs a site coordinator who is responsible for successfully leading the community through the intensive planning process:

  1. Cobb County District Attorney’s Office in Marietta, Georgia
  2. Crisis Line & Safe House in Macon, Georgia
  3. Magnolia House in Waycross, Georgia

CJCC’s Statewide Family Justice Center Coordinator, Jenny Aszman, provides dedicated support and ongoing technical assistance to funded communities throughout their planning and implementation process. CJCC’s Initiative is modeled after the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, Office of Criminal Justice Programs, who has successfully opened over a dozen Family Justice Centers in Tennessee under a similar technical assistance and funding structure. Please contact Jenny Aszman for more information: [email protected].


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