Ending Abuse—Improving Lives - Florida Department of Children ...

Batterer Intervention ProgramsThe year 2006 marks the 10 th anniversary of state certificationof batterer intervention programs and assessorsin Florida.The Office of Certification and Monitoring of BattererIntervention Programs was established by the 1995 Legislaturein order to standardize intervention with batterersand establish statewide minimum standards. Theprimary purpose of certified batterer intervention programsis to increase safety for the victims and their children,and to hold the batterers accountable for theirviolence. The Department of Children and Familiesis responsible for the promulgation of the minimumstandards including the certification and monitoring ofboth programs and assessors. These community-basedprograms receive referrals from the civil courts throughthe injunction process and through the criminal courtsas the result of arrests culminatingin misdemeanor or felonyprobation. Programs may alsoreceive referrals from pretrial ordiversion programs of the stateattorney’s offices, through theDepartment of Children andFamilies, or through self-referral.Florida has established minimumstandards for certified battererintervention programs and assessorsin order to assist the courtsand referring agencies in identifyingappropriate programs and to provide guidance toprograms and assessors for maintaining the quality andintegrity of their programs. The state standards requirethat programs be a minimum of 29 weeks in length,including 24 weekly sessions, plus appropriate intake/enrollment, assessment, and orientation. Programs mustemploy a model that includes program content basedon tactics of power and control by one person overanother. (See §741.325, F.S.) The premise of the modelis that violence is a learned and chosen tactic to controland can be “unlearned” through education and intervention.The Certification Procedures and Minimum Standardsfor Assessors and Batterer Intervention Programs(January 2004) can be found on the following web site:www.dcf.state.fl.us/domesticviolence/The primary purpose ofcertified batterer interventionprograms is to increasesafety for the victims andtheir children, and to holdthe batterers accountable fortheir violence.During FY 2005-2006, the department contractedwith ENSYNC Diversified Management Services, Inc. toconduct on-site monitoring of batterer interventionprograms. At the end of the fiscal year, there were 140certified programs and 238 certified assessors in Floridaincluding initial certification for five programs and 25assessors. The list of programs and assessors is updatedmonthly and can be found on the above web site, as wellas in this report.TrainingAs part of the department’s commitment to strengthenand support certified batterer intervention programsand assessors in Florida, the Domestic Violence ProgramOffice provided training opportunities for staff of certifiedbatterer intervention programs and certified assessors.Building a Coordinated Community Response toDomestic Violence, presented bythe Domestic Abuse InterventionProject was held in Sanibel Islandon December 2, 2005. Communityactivists, domestic violence fatalityreview teams, domestic violenceworkers, criminal justice professionals,child welfare workers, and otherswere invited to attend as well.On February 8-9, 2006, in commemorationof the 10 th anniversaryof certification and monitoring ofbatterer intervention programs inFlorida, the Domestic Violence Program Office collaboratedwith the Coalition of Batterer Intervention Programsin Florida to hold a two-day training event in AltamonteSprings. The first day, Coalition board presidentFred Sulzbach, Director of Programming at FavorHouseof NW Florida, and Cliff Nehmer, Coalition Vice Presidentand Director of Programming at Hubbard House,brought together a panel of criminal justice professionalswho addressed the topic “Diversified Perspectives onBatterer Program Accountability.” Panel experts includedthe Honorable Ronald Swanson, Circuit Judge in SantaRosa County; Meg Baldwin, Executive Director of RefugeHouse in Tallahassee; Julie Agent, Assistant State Attorneyin Jacksonville; and Bob Smedley, Senior ProbationOfficer in Orlando. In a separate session, Judge Swansondiscussed the successful establishment of Santa RosaCounty’s Domestic Violence Court and the importanceDomestic Violence Annual Report 2005-200623