Formed in 1999, the Collin County Council of Family Violence (the Council) strives to eliminate and respond to Family Violence by a coordinated, comprehensive, effective effort, which includes education, prevention, intervention and seamless 24-hour assistance. To meet this objective, and to improve access to services for victims and families, the Council envisions forming a facility to house family violence services for residents of rural and underserved communities in Collin County.

This facility, named the Collin County Family Justice Center (CCFJC), will administer to the adult and child victims of family violence acts such as spousal abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, date rape, and spousal rape.

Often victims do not seek help because they must travel from location to location to seek services, telling their story over and over to numerous professionals who are scattered throughout the community. The Family Justice Center concept makes a victim’s search for help and justice less burdensome by bringing professionals who provide an array of necessary services together under one roof, including non-profit, nongovernmental domestic violence victim services organizations, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, probation officers, governmental victim assistants, forensic medical professionals, civil legal attorneys, chaplains, legal advocates, and representatives from community-based organizations.

The Council unanimously agrees that the CCFJC must service family violence victims of all ages. Additionally, while the CCFJC will house services from various community-based organizations, this collocation does not supplant the services of these organizations. Instead there will continue to be a need for ongoing specialized services from each of the Council’s member organizations.

The Council’s target demographic is the rapidly growing, diverse populations of the rural and under-served areas served by the County Commissioners Court. This area has been identified as underserved and in need of immediate funding and programs by both the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Needs Assessment for 2003 and 2004 and through the North Texas Council of Governments (NTCOG) five year Community Plan (2004-2009).