Justice for Families Project
(2022 - Ongoing)
The Justice for Families Comprehensive Project is a three-year, multifaceted collaboration between the Circuit Court of Cook County and Loyola University Chicago’s Center for Urban Research and Learning, School of Social Work, and School of Law. Funded by the National Institute of Justice in 2020, it aims to increase the safety of families impacted by Domestic Violence and the well-being of the children in those families by: (1) increasing the capacity for supervised visitation and safe exchange services for those families, (2) improving the ability of the Domestic Violence Courts in Cook County to provide referrals to social and health services for those families, (3) enhancing coordination between those services and other legal and non-legal support services and the Court and, (4) providing legal information/advice for families at supervised visitation centers. In addition, the collaboration includes Domestic Violence service partners, the Network (formerly Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network) and the Center for Advancing Domestic Peace (CADP), as well as the participation of the current visitation centers in Chicago - Apna Ghar, Mujeres Latinas en Accion, and Metropolitan Family Services.
Loyola’s Main Tasks:
CURL is leading the development and establishment of an additional Visitation and Exchange Center on the Loyola campus in Rogers Park.
Master of Social Work Intern positions have been developed and implemented at the Domestic Violence Court to develop and enhance the referral capacity of the court. Additional internship positions will be developed to assist the staff of the Loyola Visitation and Exchange Center.
The School of Law has developed a practicum in which law students are trained and supervised in providing legal information to families referred at the supervised visitation centers and other venues.
Loyola researchers will develop research and evaluation protocols to chronicle and assess these efforts.
Research Team:
L. Landis, CURL
C. George, CURL
S. Grossman, School of Social Work
Z. Harris, Law School
Community Partner: