‘Labor of love’: Delaware advocates move forward on Family Justice Centers after domestic violence deaths rise

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Delaware could create the nation’s first statewide Family Justice Center framework.

Gov. John Carney signed legislation this fall that establishes Family Justice Centers, with the goal of putting one in each of the state’s three counties.

The centers are intended to be a place where victims of crimes, including domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault and stalking, can find help at a central location. There, they may access multiple services, such as requesting restraining orders, applying for housing assistance and receiving health care.

Delaware first considered building a Family Justice Center in 2005, but it wasn’t until 2021 that the Delaware Domestic Violence Coordinating Council established a steering committee to rejuvenate momentum for the project.

Family Justice Steering Committee Chair Laura Graham said the impetus for reviving the concept of Family Justice Centers was a rise in the number and severity of domestic violence incidents in the First State. She is also deputy director at the Delaware Community Legal Aid Society.

“Then over the course of three years, a group of hard-working, well-intentioned folks met monthly to walk through ‘what does this look like?’” Graham said. “So, it was a long labor of love, but it grew out of addressing what we saw was an increase in domestic violence deaths in our state in 2021.”

The 2024 Fatal Incident Review Team annual report shows domestic violence homicides rose to 23 in 2021 from eight in 2020. They dropped to four in 2022 before climbing to nine in 2023.

Democratic state Rep. Krista Griffith, who is also the executive director for the Children’s Advocacy Center of Delaware, said there’s a lot of services available to help abuse survivors, but they’re not located together.

“This is a very big deal for survivors,” she said. “Ultimately, the goal here is to reduce and hopefully end generational cycles of violence that have been perpetuated because there hasn’t been enough coordination of services.”

Lawmakers have approved about $230,000 in state funding over the next few fiscal years for an executive director and a planner for the FJC network, Graham said. She said they hope to hire an executive director in the next couple of months.

A report from workshops held in June 2023 showed each county has specific struggles that officials need to consider when setting up a Family Justice Center in that area. Parts of Sussex County suffer from extreme poverty, while Kent County has a lack of child care and New Castle County’s diverse population could pose language barriers. A lack of transportation was identified as an issue for all of the counties.

Graham said the executive director, once hired, will look at the listening sessions, the strategic planning report and the feasibility study being done by Tevebaugh Architecture to guide them on how to create a center that will best serve the community.

Graham said the feasibility study has identified a location on Wilmington’s East Side and some state-owned property in Sussex County, but not a place yet in Kent County. But the project wasn’t given state funding to purchase land or construct facilities in the fiscal year 2025 budget.