PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The grand opening for the brand new Family Justice Center by CASA is an event the CASA Pinellas CEO Lariana Forsythe described as a "game changer."
Opening the Family Justice Center has been years in the making and the first of its kind for Pinellas County residents, with more than a dozen resources for survivors of domestic violence under one roof.
"It just makes sense," Forsythe said. "If you can make it easy for the survivor to access everything they need, they're going to get more services, which means that we're going to be able to break the cycle."
Weeks before the center's grand opening on Oct. 19, Forsythe gave ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska a tour of the facility.
Time is of the essence for many, and sadly there may be no tomorrow for them to come back.
The center is designed to optimize time and space for survivors, including individual living room-type private areas so survivors can wait for their case manager. They're also able to file a police report and monitor each room to see their children playing in the childcare center down the hall.
Case managers help the survivor through the entire process.
"Now, we don't ever encourage survivors one way or another," Forsythe said. "It's a survivor's decision on what they what and how they handle their case. 'Would you like to meet with a police officer? Would you like to have a physical exam? Do you need a rape exam? If you want those things, they're available to you.'"
Forsythe said medical professionals that administer the exams are trained to find any signs of abuse, especially strangulation.
"One thing that people don't realize, if somebody has ever been strangled by their partner, they are seven to 800 times more likely to ultimately be murdered by that partner," Forsythe said. "So it's a huge red flag for us to be asking more in-depth questions, to be able to try and protect that survivor going forward."
Sadly, domestic violence incidents continue to rise, making the need for a Family Justice Center all the more critical.
According to data provided by CASA, Pinellas County is ranked fifth out of 67 counties for the highest rates of domestic violence in Florida. Since 2015, 43 domestic violence homicides and 32,115 incidents have been reported in Pinellas County.
"First of all, it's massively underreported," Forsythe said. "You are thinking, 'This is just happening to me; there's nobody else in this situation.' I don't know if you've ever noticed, but in the news, they'll constantly report murder-suicide, or what is a murder, suicide is domestic violence. It's never labeled as domestic violence. And so we've been trying to do a lot of work so people can recognize this is a common problem."
Before the center opened, Forsythe said they "would see seven to eight survivors daily; we anticipate that at least doubling in the first month or two."
CASA operates one of the largest shelters in Florida, with 80 to 100 people every night; half are children.
"I think this model will become very popular throughout Florida," Forsythe said. "Again, they are throughout the country Family Justice centers, but there aren't any in Florida other than this one when it opens. But, I will say, too, we are very lucky in this county as well that we have great relationships."
She also mentioned how important it is to have a community and partners that are supportive.
"Our state's attorney's office was one of the first ones to say, 'This is a great idea,'" Forsythe said. "We have a great police department, St. Petersburg Police Department, again, saying, 'We see the tremendous value in this. We want to be on-site to help facilitate services for survivors.' So it's our partners recognizing the value that this brings to the community and being able to support it from the very beginning. Not every community is that lucky."
For more information and a complete list of providers and partners, head to Family Justice Center's website.
