Supervised Visitation Technical Assistance Project

ALSO is a national technical assistance provider for recipients of the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchanges Development Grants. Assistance to development grantees is intended to promote the planning and implementation of comprehensive strategies for the supervised visitation and safe visitation exchange of children by and between parents in situations involving domestic violence, dating violence, child abuse, sexual assault, and/or stalking. Often, the risk of violence is greater for victims of domestic violence and their children after separation from an abusive situation and batterers may use visitation and exchange of children as an opportunity to inflict additional emotional, physical, and/or psychological abuse on victims and their children. ALSO’s assistance is sensitive to these dynamics and seeks to maximize safety for adult victims and their children.

Resources

Events – under construction

Technical Assistance Request Form for Safe Havens
Development Grantees – Click this link to download the form as a PDF.

Links – under construction

Publications – under construction

Consultants

Nancy Cline has over 17 years of experience with training, education, and technical assistance in the areas of public health and family violence. Most recently, Nancy served as a project director at the Vera Institute of Justice, working closely with staff from the US Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women, Vera associates, program evaluators, and other technical assistance providers to assist three demonstration sites in the implementation of the Judicial Oversight Demonstration Initiative (JOD)—a project designed to enhance community, criminal justice, and court responses to acts of domestic violence. Currently, much of her work focuses on the impact of childhood exposure to domestic violence with a special focus on bringing attention to the needs of children who have lost one or both parents to a fatal act of intimate partner violence. Nancy also provides independent consultation on issues related to domestic violence and child welfare.

Originally from Louisiana, Nancy has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Southern University at New Orleans, and a Master of Science degree from Columbia University's School of Social Work in New York City.

Lori Crowder has worked on both local and national initiatives to end violence against women for the past 15 years. Currently she works as a Senior Associate with the Alliance of Local Service Organizations (ALSO) in Chicago to prevent and intervene in community and family violence through training, technical assistance and community-building, both locally and nationally. Her national technical assistance work includes the STOP Technical Assistance to Administrators Resource (STAAR) Project and ALSO’s Supervised Visitation Technical Assistance Project. Her local work includes spearheading a teen dating violence initiative and serving on the board of Directors for a non-profit organization that provides support for autistic children and their families. She is also an adjunct faculty member at UIC’s Jane Addams College of Social Work.

Prior to her move to Chicago, Ms. Crowder provided national technical assistance on preventing and intervening in domestic violence and was the co-founder of the Safe Return Initiative for the Vera Institute of justice. Through the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American community, Safe Return continues to provide assistance to communities around the country on domestic violence among African-American families and prisoners returning to their communities. Ms. Crowder received her B.S. from the University of Texas at Arlington, and her M.S. from Columbia University’s School of Social Work.

Ona Foster is the director of Faith and Liberty ’s Place Supervised Visitation Center in Dallas, Texas. Previously M s. Foster spent 4 years working in the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office in the Family Violence Unit, first as a legal advocate in the criminal misdemeanor family violence courts, and then as a supervisor in the Protective Order Division. Prior to working at the DA’s Office, she facilitated BIPP (Batterer’s Intervention and Prevention Program) groups using the Duluth model at 3 different domestic violence agencies, and also has worked in a women’s shelter. She publicly speaks on the issue of domestic violence nationally and locally, and trains law enforcement and community groups across the state of Texas for the DA’s Office. M s. Foster serves on two committees for the Supervised Visitation Network and is currently a board member. M s. Foster is a licensed social worker who holds a master’s in social work from the University of Texas , and a bachelor’s in sociology and criminal justice from Colorado State University.

Shelia Hankins is employed by the Michigan Domestic Violence Prevention and Treatment Board, which oversees the provision of domestic violence services throughout the state. She also provides training and consulting services nationally. Before assuming her current position, Shelia served as the Vice President of Programs for the HAVEN Center in Pontiac, Michigan.  In this capacity she provided leadership for the development and implementation of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and batterer’s intervention programs.  Additionally, Shelia has held the positions of Executive Director of Detroit’s Women’s Justice Center and the Northwest and Downtown Branches of the YWCA of Metropolitan Detroit, and Administrator of the Violence Against Women Grants Office for the Florida Governor’s Task Force on Domestic and Sexual Violence

For over two decades Shelia has focused her professional career and her community service activities on issues related to redressing the economic, political, and social status of traditionally disenfranchised and marginalized communities.  She is an advocate for systemic changes in our society that will create safe and empowering environments for clients/customers, staff, families, and communities. She has a B.S. in Education from Wayne State University and is currently an M.B.A. candidate at NOVA Southeastern University.

Leo Hayden is President and CEO of the National Center for Violence Interruption (NCVI). Leo developed NCVI's Violence Interruption Process, a provocative and dramatic change process that compels participants to uncover and address the root causes of violence. He has vast experience working at the intersection of substance abuse and family violence. Prior to NCVI, Leo directed Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) services at the Cook County Day Reporting Center, the Cook County juvenile courts, the Sheridan Correctional Center, and therapeutic communities at six institutions in Illinois.

Prior to joining TASC, Leo was the administrator of criminal justice programs for the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services. He also developed culturally-specific substance abuse and violence intervention models for the Columbus, Ohio, Health Department. As an independent consultant, Leo provides training and technical assistance to community based organizations, courts and the justice system on intimate partner violence, substance abuse and cultural competence. In addition, he is currently designing and implementing culturally specific teen dating violence programs. He played 7 years of professional football and has a B.A. in Communications from The Ohio State University.

Pat Kelleher -

Lauren Litton is a consultant working to end violence against women and children by assisting communities in addressing their collaborative responses and exploring issues that can affect the delivery of services.  Prior to consulting, she was a program manager in the Family Violence Department of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges overseeing the department’s activities related to the overlap of child maltreatment and domestic violence and supervised visitation and safe exchange.  She also developed and worked as the supervising attorney for a clinic which provided pro bono and pro se legal assistance to victims of domestic violence and as a county prosecutor handling felony domestic violence and sexual assault cases.  She has been admitted to practice law in Ohio and Arizona, serves as a board member and advisor for numerous agencies, and has authored several publications on issues impacting system responses to domestic violence.  Ms. Litton holds a bachelor’s in psychology from The Ohio State University and a juris doctorate from Case Western Reserve University. 

Beth McNamara is a social worker who received her degree from the University of Wisconsin.  Beth was the Project Director of the Bay Area Safe Havens: Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Demonstration Initiative.  Beth was also director of the Family Service Agency, Family Visitation Center in San Mateo, California for thirteen years.  Over the course of her career in supervised visitation she planned, designed and operated five different supervised visitation centers.  She was responsible for program development, sustainability, training, direct service, advocacy, and the supervision and mentoring of staff and volunteers.  Beth has also worked as a domestic violence and sexual assault advocate, in a psychiatric unit, and in an inpatient and outpatient chemical dependency center.  She is currently a consultant working with Praxis International, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the Alliance of Local Service Organizations.

Jennifer Rose has been working as an advocate and activist to end violence against women and children for over 12 years.  As the director of domestic violence services at the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center, Jennifer worked to build a program that provided both crisis intervention and long term advocacy and support for survivors and their families. In this role she also opened a supervised visitation center that was part of a national demonstration initiative funded through the Office of Violence Against Women.  A significant component of this program was working with a national learning community and the Family Violence Prevention Fund to create and implement creative strategies to engage abusive fathers in supervised visitation centers. Jennifer is currently working as a consultant, locally and nationally, to provide training and technical assistance on the issues of family violence, oppression, community organizing, and LGBTQ issues.  She received her BA in Anthropology and Women’s Studies from Fort Lewis College and her MSW from San Jose State University.

Chandra Yoder is a consultant with over six years experience in the field of supervised visitation and domestic violence.  Her practice in the field has included direct provision of services, as well as program development and supervision.  Additionally, she worked to make supervised visitation services more accessible and responsive to the needs of underserved communities in Queens, New York, the most ethnically and linguistically diverse locality in the United States. 

Chandra has also worked in the areas of child welfare, homelessness, geriatric social work, and forensic social work.  She has a B.A. in Psychology from Duke University, and an M.S. in Social Work from Columbia University.

For more information on Supervised Visitation Technical Assistance or to reach one of ALSO’s consultants, contact: SVTA@also-chicago.org