Family Justice Center in New Brunswick Giving Hope, Help to Domestic Abuse Survivors

The walls have been painted sky blue, a gizmo with purple backlighting that shoots soothing streams of bubbles is hanging near the front door and the place still has that new-carpeting smell.

From the stones etched with inspirational messages subtly positioned on desks to the overgrown plush octopus in the playroom, every inch of the new Middlesex County Family Justice Center is meant to convey to domestic abuse survivors and their children that this is a space of support and sanctuary.

“And hope – that word is huge,” said Mildred Torres, the center’s director. “It can be found. It can be inspired. You can teach hope and inspire a person who has gone through the worst of the worst. I love that word. So, yes, we want them to feel hopeful. There’s a better future ahead.”

Hope and help can be found inside the walls of this 1,900-square foot office carved from space from the prosecutor’s office at 100 Bayard St.

Women Aware, a state-designated lead domestic violence agency for Middlesex County, led the initiative to establish the Family Justice Center and bring together the services of 12 partners under one roof.

The center, which opened in December 2020, provides a coordinated community response for the survivors of domestic abuse who are in need of legal advocacy, emotional counseling, housing services, immigration support, and more. Women Aware is the main tenant, but there are offices open for representatives from Central Jersey Legal Services, Jewish Family Services and Partners for Women and Justice, and other partners to share on a rotating basis.

This is a safe haven for survivors to confer with lawyers, counselors, police officers, or others while their children read books and dress-up dolls.

The establishment of the center is also important because of its proximity to the criminal and family courts, the New Brunswick Police Department, and the prosecutor’s office – the latter of which is literally on the other side of an adjoining door.

That’s more than just a convenience for women who don’t have cars, who are toting children to their appointments, who are afraid they will be spotted by their abuser, who endure the emotional toll of reliving the abuse over and over.

“Middlesex County is fortunate because there is a tremendous breadth of services for survivors,” said Susan Dyckman, development director at Women Aware. “They just happen to be all over the place. So, that means if I need Women Aware and I need the prosecutor’s office and I need immigration support and I need a lawyer – you have to walk into every one of those places and go through this whole horrific story again. Whereas, under the umbrella of the Family Justice Center, it allows you to come in and tell your story one time, and then we can make those connections to the services that will get you what you need.”

Middlesex is the fifth county in New Jersey to work with the Alliance for Hope International to develop the Family Justice Center model, joining Essex, Morris, Monmouth, and Union counties. There are 130 others nationwide and internationally.

Women Aware will use a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Violence Against Women, which will be dispersed over four years, to pay the center’s rent and hire a full-time legal resource director and a full-time intake specialist.

The extra resources come as Women Aware is helping more survivors than at any time since its founding 41 years ago. In 2021, it provided uninterrupted service in spite of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic to 2,195 survivors – many of whom reached out through its 24-hour hotline at 732-249-4504 or toll-free at 833-249-4504.

Since Women Aware’s safe house capacity was reduced due to COVID-19, it launched a hotel placement program in 2021. In all, 250 women and children were sheltered overnight, an increase of 125% from 2020.

The idea of forming the Community Justice Center was born in the wake of a vicious attack on a woman named Victoria a few years ago. The level of concern was so high that it brought Women Aware CEO Phyllis Yonta and representatives from other governmental and community agencies together at the same table.

“I think since there were so many service providers involved, it sort of crystallized, ‘Oh, if we’re working together on this one case, how much better can we do for all survivors?’” Dyckman said.

Slowly, the plan fell into place after the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office donated a small space, and relinquished a larger one.

The survivors – they’re overwhelmingly women – are referred to this space on the fourth floor from the courts, community partners, the police department, and other places. Sometimes they show up unannounced.

Torres said that when most people hear the word abuse, they conjure up images of black eyes and bruises. Abuse comes in many forms, she said. Some are victims of emotional abuse or even financial abuse, where the husband doesn’t allow the wife to see a penny of the money she is earning. The survivors have sometimes been threatened, stalked, intimidated, and controlled.

Each victim needs help and hope – not someone asking, “Why doesn’t she just leave?”

“When a woman is with an abuser, the most dangerous time is when’s going to leave, when he knows it,” Torres said. “That’s because now he’s losing control. Domestic violence is about what? It’s about control. That’s where a lot of women get assaulted, get stabbed, get shot, get killed. So it’s easy for someone to stand back and they don’t know about domestic violence and make a comment. It’s an insane question.”

Story By: Chuck O'Donnell
Photo Credit: Chuck O'Donnell