Miami’s Dependency Court Intervention Program for Family Violence (DCIPFV) was the first project in the nation to identify and address domestic violence in the context of juvenile dependency court proceedings. Conceived by Miami Circuit Court Judge Cindy S. Lederman and the late Susan Schechter, M.S.W. of the University of Iowa, the DCIPFV began in 1997 as a national demonstration project funded by the Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women Grants Office. Operating in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit’s Juvenile Court, the DCIPFV has worked to advance the principle that when child maltreatment and domestic violence overlap, the safety and well-being of children can be better assured by increasing the safety and self-efficacy of their mothers.
In April 2004, Victim Response, Inc./The Lodge, Miami’s newest publicly-funded, privately-operated domestic violence shelter, assumed fiscal and operational responsibility for domestic violence screening and victim advocacy services provided by the DCIPFV. |
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