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Center's Demise Bad News For Hurt Families

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By STEVE OTTO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 30, 2008

It's called the Family Justice Center. I'm not sure justice is the appropriate word, but whatever they want to call it, it's about to disappear. The facility, which serves as a gathering place and center for more than 30 services for victims of domestic violence, is scheduled to shut its doors Feb. 8.

To get a sense of the place, let me just tell you a little about Dinah. She has a couple of kids in Hillsborough County schools, and life is tough enough for these two.

For most of us, except for a few credit card bills, Christmas is already a memory. Not Dinah. It was Christmas Day of 2006 that her marriage of almost 30 years was shattered when her husband slammed her against a wall and beat the daylights out of her in front of their children.

Details aren't important, except that prescription drugs were involved. This was also on the surface not a likely family for something like this to happen. It was upper middle class, involved in their church and school, and a family that gave the appearance of enjoying the American dream.

There was a physical struggle as the husband smashed a cell phone when Dinah tried to punch out 911. Finally she made it to a phone and called for help.

The Aftermath

That was all more than a year ago. Today, their house has been sold. The ex-husband, who lost his job, pays no support but lives on the street and in shelters. Dinah has an apartment and works in a retail store in a Tampa suburb. The children have changed schools. They struggle to make ends meet, try to keep an old car running and have no expectations.

"I wouldn't have made it at all without the Family Justice Center." she says. "The center connected me with Bay Area Legal services, who were right there. I couldn't afford food, and Metropolitan Ministries was there with food baskets. Even if I just needed a shoulder to cry on, it was here.

"I think you don't appreciate what it is like when you are in a crisis to have everything in one place. You don't have to go across the county from one agency to another, giving your same story over and over, trying to get the services you need."

It Removes The Barriers

I was at the center in October when they were celebrating their one-year anniversary in the sprawling facility that is part of an old mall on Florida Avenue.

Staffed by professional counselors and with representatives of agencies from elderly services to one that helps find transportation, it helps to literally remove a series of barriers for people in crisis. Representatives from the governor's office, the city and the county were all there. The woman from the governor's office had herself been a victim of domestic violence and shed tears as she talked about the value of the place.

These are tight times. The federal grant that floated them for almost 16 months has run out. Several other foundation grants have not come through. It will take around $350,000 to keep the doors open until fall, when they will be eligible for United Way money, and that is not guaranteed.

To allow this facility to go under would be unconscionable. More than 10,000 cases of domestic violence were reported last year in the county alone. So far, state and local governments have been unable to figure out what to do. The only funding that has remained intact has been a grant from The Children's Board. The silence out there is deafening.

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