Task Force: A Rose By Any Other Name...

Do not water down the only task force that addresses domestic and sexual violence throughout all of Pasco County.

That's my advice to members of the Task Force Formerly Known as the Sexual and Domestic Violence Task Force of Pasco County.  (This reminds me of The Artist Formerly Known as Prince who was then doing business as that weird symbol...)

Thetentatively voted in late May to drop "domestic and sexual violence" from its common-use name and expand its services in East Pasco. Its new name is "Family and Community Task Force of East Pasco," but Task Force members are continuing to debate the decision. 

I want the task force's focus to be clear and not clear as mud. I don't want them to drop "domestic and sexual violence" from the name.

At this month's task force meeting on Wednesday, June 22, at the Dade City Courthouse, there was further discussion of  the decision to change the task force's "doing-business-as"  name to “Family and Community Task Force of East Pasco.” The legal name of the group remains Sexual and Domestic Violence Task Force of Pasco County.

Concerns were raised about whether the new name communicates clearly the new mission that continues to include domestic and sexual violence in West Pasco while expanding to East Pasco. 

Task Force Co-Chairperson Terri O'Brien was not able to attend the meeting but told me she learned about the discussion later: “Cases were made from both sides so there was good discussion....it is good that folks feel safe enough to have that discussion and know it is safe to disagree.” 

The task force is comprised of various individuals including Circuit Court judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, the Pasco Clerk of Court's Office, advocates and corrections and other private-sector contractors to name some.

Do the task force members allow discussion among themselves for the sake of getting to the marrow of the issues or not?

According to O'Brien, the task force membership chooses to discuss issues freely because they themselves can say: “Can I respectfully disagree----What happens when you disagree and they are applying healthy family communication dynamics to what they are having happen in the task force itself. This brought forth an opportunity for our community to see that the task force could itself have healthy discussion and agree to disagree in any relationship like in healthy families."

The task force is highting a new emphasis on parenting and families.

Making access to resources easy for families before a crisis hits helps prevent court-ordered intervention. O'Brien says the goal is “to invest early on with these families and not at the end” which she says brings “hope to reduce the stigma that is out there for getting help.”

I asked Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper about this new prevention aspect to the task force. Tepper volunteers as the Parenting Committee liaison.

“It is a group of diverse membership that is attempting to raise community awareness and individual awareness in the fields involving families impacted by domestic violence and sex assault," she said. "In parenting, there is always need for review of the resources and programs that are in place.” 

Tepper also described how some of the biggest challenges to address are with pre-adolescents, adolescents and teens in the community who have need of intervention by the courts.

Tepper's goal is to look for options and ways to assist the parents. In furthering that goal, the judge sees the need to help the children at that stage have some responsibility for good direction.

“My goal is to see the adolescents gain control over their situations and have consistency in their lives,” she said. An example she gave of a resource that needs to be tapped is a book on re-directing children's behavior, it is still in existence, gives good advice and still matters. 

Time is precious, especially family time, and should never be taken for granted. Examples Tepper gave of this breakdown in family time are that “families don't sit down together anymore at the kitchen table and talk to each other. Everyone is on the run or all their meals are heated in the microwave, or it's all about the TV.”

I agree.

Tepper often sees the results of these situations play out in the courtroom. But the hope she saw that could change things to move forward for the better certainly gives insight to why she volunteered for the task force's Parenting Sub-Committee: “I saw amazing transformations just getting them to get together as families; even ordering families to do one family thing a week together.”

By getting these families that entered the court system having dinner together again, she found, could have “truly transformative results.” Even when there were literacy issues that hadn't been identified before, it was a good turn for the better when both children and parents in those families would get library cards.

Would the involvement of churches and faith communities help with all of this?  Tepper thinks so. She explained how in Dade City,Tampa and other parts of the state there were events and dinners held at community halls and the families' faith community would get involved. Another interesting perspective she offered was a program where the child played the role of the parent to show how that parent was perceived by that child and the parent then played the role of the child to demonstrate the child's behavior in the home.

The Parenting Sub-Committee thus far has a primary prevention focus on parenting, before someone gets to court-ordered parenting classes. Tepper volunteered to be on the committee, as did the following task force members: Marty Driscoll, Task Force co-chair; Dawn Sarmiento, from Eckerd Community Alternatives; Angelita Rodriguez; Larry Reidt, Sunrise Children's Counselor; Eddie Roberts, JDC and more as this new task force subcommittee evolves.

Analyn Megison is a member of the Task Force but writes this column to express her personal opinion on the subjects it addresses.