The Domestic Violence Clinical Advocacy Program (DVCAP) at John Marshall is urging domestic relations courts throughout Illinois, including Cook County, to implement a program that helps protect children from exposure to domestic violence in divorce and order of protection cases. The program is already used in domestic violence courts in Winnebago County, Ill. Those courts require that divorcing spouses who batter their intimate partners complete partner abuse intervention programs (PAIP) as a condition to unsupervised visitation with their children.
In an Oct. 2 conference organized by DVCAP, judges and court staff from Winnebago County will describe the circumstances under which they have imposed this requirement, how they have monitored and enforced their court orders, and the results so far. The conference keynote speaker will be the executive director of an innovative PAIP in Canada called “Caring Dads,” whose focus on parenting issues with the abusive intimate partner, and the serious harmful impact to children from being exposed to domestic violence, has led to even better outcomes.
The conference – co-sponsored by the Chicago Bar Association’s Alliance for Women – aims to educate family law judges, attorneys, PAIP administrators and the public on lessons from these innovative measures in Canada and in Winnebago County, and to encourage employing these types of programs to better protect domestic violence survivors and their children. Click here to learn more about the conference.
