Scoring help for abuse victims
Last month, the Chattanooga Police Department, the local Family Justice Center and the Southern Adventist University School of Social Work formalized a partnership to develop a new domestic violence victim assistance program that offers families and police a way to head off violence rather than just react to it.
The partnership will focus on the development of a pilot to test what the groups are calling a "Lethality Assessment protocol -- something of a diagnostic system for warning signals that escalating family or domestic arguments may be about to become dangerously violent or even homicidal.
Mayor Andy Berke and Family Justice Center Executive Director Dr. Valerie Radu say the assessment begins with questions that officers will ask when they are called to a domestic dispute. Radu says the answers to the questions -- all vetted from research programs around the country -- will formulate a score to help officers and social workers know what their next suggestions and actions should be to help a victim of abuse not become an injury or homicide statistic.
Meanwhile in the coming year, local officials plan to unveil a new bricks-and-mortar Family Justice Center where domestic abuse help can be something of a one-stop shop and be coordinated -- all using additional evidence-based research on best practices from community service programs here and nationwide.
Berke says Southern Adventist is a leader in social work research, and -- as our local program is shaped and strengthened -- Southern will set up a more estensive research and assessment program locally.
When the new center opens, a student learning clinic managed by Southern will provide free social services/counseling services to clients, families, and groups. In addition, the school will develop an interdisciplinary internship program to prepare future professionals for working in law enforcement, social services, healthcare, and city government.
"Our Family Justice Center will ensure one centralized location where a diverse group of partners provide victims with a wide range of services. These strong partnerships and convenient access to services will be crucial to breaking the cycle of domestic violence in our area," Berke said.
This good work is, in part, the result of a three-year grant obtained in the summer of 2013 to research a family social blueprint for a justice center here. An advisory committee held several public forums. Last August, the city hired Dr. Radu.
It was and is a much needed effort. Kudos to all involved.
New Congress starts new year
We've now had two full days of session from the new 114th Congress -- one that will be led entirely by Republicans for the first time in nearly a decade. The GOP now has a 54-46 advantage in the Senate and its biggest majority in the House since 1929.
This is a Congress that will be trying to push top GOP priorities that are in direct opposition to those of their colleagues across the aisle, like approving the Keystone pipeline and crippling the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) while also attempting to show American voters that they can effectively govern.
That's the trickier part of their agenda.
A Democrat-led Senate is no longer standing in the way of House Republicans, but those GOP lawmakers still don't have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. That means the seemingly lost art of negotiation and legislating will be a prerequisite.
Democrats, despite destructive losses in November, likely have the votes to support presidential vetoes, but they also will have to avoid being seen as the new "party of no" -- a title the GOP held for the past several years.
Other sticking points -- or let's be hopeful and rephrase this as opportunities for compromise -- include funding for the Department of Homeland Security and a GOP threat to withhold money for the president's executive action on immigration. The current Homeland Security funding runs out at the end of February.
There also is the question of the country's overall budget: Republicans are likely to introduce a budget drafted by incoming Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price of Georgia. But House Democrats have a funding bill, too -- one aimed at cutting a tax loophole for corporations and another prohibiting chief executives from claiming certain tax deductions.
There's already been one bright spot in this Congress. The far right didn't get five of the 30 votes needed to oust John Boehner as speaker of the House. Boehner is certainly no grand statesman, but he occasionally understands that compromise is not a four-letter word.
Perhaps there is hope.