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

grant, totaling $1,017,757. See the Financial Highlightssection below for further details of each program.FPAA’s activities during the year included:• Five training seminars on domestic and sexual violence,for a total of 209 participants;• Over 300 technical assistance requests; and• Three published issues of the Domestic Violence/SexCrimes Newsletter with 1,800 copies distributed.The Office of the State Courts Administrator(OSCA)The OSCA was created by the Supreme Court to assist incarrying out its management and administrative responsibilities.The State Courts Administrator serves as theliaison between the court system and legislative branch,executive branch, auxiliary agencies of the court, and nationalcourt research and planning agencies. Other OSCAresponsibilities include overseeing a uniform case reportingsystem, assisting in the preparation of the court-operatingbudget, and projecting the need for judges andspecialized court divisions.Over the past few years, Florida’s STOP Violence AgainstWomen program has developed a coordinated relationshipwith OSCA to address the following issues affectingdomestic violence victims:• Developing and expanding training for judges andother court personnel in effectively responding todomestic violence;• Identifying more effective court policies and servicesin response to petitions for injunctions for protectionagainst domestic violence;• Providing communication equipment and educationalresources to circuit courts;• Providing a variety of domestic violence educationalmaterials to judges, court personnel, and other keyparticipants in the justice system; and• Providing resources and technical assistance tocircuits regarding domestic violence court improvementefforts.The department also contracts with OSCA to:• Increase opportunities for domestic violence relatededucation and information for judges, court administrationstaff, clerks of court, and other key participants;• Increase levels of information and technical assistanceprovided to circuit domestic violence coordinators,court administration staff, and other key participants;and• Improve usability of Domestic Violence Injunctionforms for litigants as well as judges.During FY 2005-2006, OSCA received $241,110 throughfunding from the STOP Violence Against Women grantprogram. The funds supported training in the area ofdomestic violence at the Family Court Conference andthe Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence annualrural conference, as well as at statewide meetings of courtadministration staff and the circuit domestic violence casecoordinators. Additionally, educational resource materialswere generated including judicial checklists for Chapter784, F.S., injunctions for protection from repeat datingand sexual violence for judges, a Best Practice GuidelinesManual for Domestic Violence Case Management and abi-monthly newsletter that highlights court improvementinitiatives related to family court issues, including dependency,domestic violence delinquency, drug court andchild support.Domestic Violence Annual Report 2005-200653