by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
Victims of domestic abuse in Jacksonville will soon have an new opportunity to get themselves out of a bad situation.
For the past year or so, members from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Northeast Florida Paralegal Association (NEFPA) and Family Law Inns of Court have been developing the Missing Link Legal Assistance and Mentor program, which will offer victims the legal means to leave abusive relationships.
The programs’ organizers, Kathy Pannell, JSO victim services counselor, Rogers Towers’ attorney Marla Buchanan and Carol Ann Benjamin, a paralegal member of NEFPA, say the program is now ready for action.
Starting in July, a small legal team consisting of a licensed attorney and several paralegals will offer a workshop once a month at a secure location. The workshop will help victims fill out and file paperwork like divorce proceedings.
“Essentially it will be a licensed attorney on hand that will basically give a brief overview of the law as it relates to domestic violence injunctions and dissolution of marriage actions,” said attorney Buchanan, who will oversee the first several workshops. “Then we will be assisting the victims with filling out the paperwork to initiate their own divorce proceedings and assisting them with filing the injunction if they need assistance.”
Buchanan said the packet of information victims will need to fill out is about an inch thick and is quite intimidating.
“The packet is pretty complicated and a lot of times the victim will take one look at it and say, ‘I can’t do that,’” she said. “That is why we have set this up. They will be filing the packet with the court but we are basically going to walk them through the process and show them what to do. The paralegals will be assisting with the paperwork and the attorney will be there to answer any questions.”
Because most of the victims are in desperate financial circumstances, the workshop is a free service and victims will be able to fill out an affidavit of indigence, which will waive the $363 court cost associated with filing their packets.
George Thompson of Ikon Document Services is offering free copying services related to the workshop, which will also help to keep costs at a minimum for the victims.
Abuse victims will be sent to the workshops on referral by Pannell, who regularly receives and helps domestic abuse victims from multiple human service organizations in the area.
NEFPA member Benjamin and Pannell were the originators of the concept. They met more than a year ago when Benjamin’s sister was killed as a result of domestic abuse.
“When the homicide detectives came to investigate, they sent Kathy to counsel me,” Benjamin said. “During our conversation, it just came up about the need for this type of service that Kathy saw during the course of her work with JSO.”
Benjamin already had a business relationship with Buchanan and the three began organizing the program and canvassing for community support. The three now have the support of the JSO, NEFPA, Rogers Towers and the Family Law Inns of Court.
Though the first victim’s workshop is in July, Buchanan said volunteers will be having an orientation meeting Tuesday and a training workshop on the first Tuesday in June.
Pannell said she expects between 20 and 30 abuse victims to attend the monthly workshops.