LIBBY KING | AUGUST 20, 2019
On August 2nd, the 2019 Annual Campaign Steering Committee gathered in the Safe Families Office to meet staff and learn about their work with survivors of intimate partner abuse.
On a guided walkthrough, our Annual Campaign Steering Committee heard from our social workers, frontline staff, and attorneys about the process of obtaining a protective order and the follow up provide from the Safe Families Office. They also met staff from Partnership Against Domestic Violence, which co-runs the Safe Families Office.
The Committee followed the path that most survivors take through the courthouse, to the Safe Families Office and the Superior Court Family Division on the 8th floor. Several members – including some AVLF staff-persons unfamiliar with the courthouse – got turned around in the labyrinth that is the Justice Complex.
With the traumatic stress survivors face, it’s especially important to us to create a calm, soothing environment in the Safe Families Office.
The Committee also spent a few moments meeting with Court staff and Judge Alex Manning.
“A special thank you to those Steering Committee members who took the time to come to the Courthouse today,” said Jamie Perez, Director of AVLF’s Safe and Stable Families Project. “The issue of intimate partner abuse needs to be more visible and regularly talked about in legal circles and beyond.”
The courthouse can be a stressful to navigate, even in the calmest of circumstances. With the traumatic stress survivors face, it’s especially important to us to create a calm, soothing environment in the Safe Families Office. Our Steering Committee got to experience this first-hand.
The tour concluded with lunch and a special visit from Superior Court Chief Judge Robert McBurney. Judge McBurney, a member of the AVLF Board of Directors, shared more about the importance of the work of the Safe Families Office and thanked the group for their commitment to AVLF.
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Libby King
Development Director
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Libby is originally from Columbus, Georgia. She has served the Atlanta community for almost 17 years in various capacities.
Prior to working at AVLF, Libby worked as the Director of Institutional Advancement at Atlanta Technical College. Prior to this, she raised funds for ovarian cancer research and served in fundraising and community outreach roles at Visiting Nurse|Hospice Atlanta. She was a communications assistant in the Office of Governor Roy E. Barnes after graduating from Clemson University with a BA in Political Science.