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LAWS urges county to coordinate new domestic-violence services with community providers
Summary
LAWS (Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter) asked the Board of Supervisors to take a collaborative approach to creating a domestic and sexual-violence services unit proposed in the Department of Family Services priorities, ensuring new county resources enhance existing community services rather than duplicate them.
The CEO of LAWS, the Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter, told the Board of Supervisors the county should take a measured, collaborative approach if it creates a new domestic-violence services unit in the Department of Family Services.
Samantha Clark, LAWS CEO, summarized the organization's four decades of work and urged supervisors to design any new county unit so that it "enhances rather than replicate[s] trusted existing and well established services and processes." She urged the board to leverage LAWS's expertise and existing community collaborations when shaping proposed resources.
Clark described LAWS's role providing survivor-centered services to immigrants and others who may hesitate to engage with government agencies and recommended that the county coordinate closely with community-based providers when developing the proposed unit.
Why it matters: Survivors' advocates recommended county coordination to avoid duplicating services, to make use of existing trust and expertise in community providers, and to build survivor-centered systems.
What was not decided: The comment was part of public testimony; the board took no vote at the hearing.
