Civil Protections Orders Listening Forum
Pursuant to Ch
apter 215, 2021 Laws, E.S.S.H.B. 1320, Civil Protection Orders, (furthering the goal of modernizing and streamlining the efficiency and accessibility of laws relating to civil protection orders), the Washington State Women’s Commission hosted eight virtual listening sessions across Washington state to hear directly from domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, survivor advocates, and other interested stakeholders.
The purpose of the Listening Forums was to support the work of the Gender and Justice Commission of the Washington State Supreme Court, and to gather input directly from advocates and survivors about their experiences seeking and obtaining Civil Protection Orders, and to identify areas in need of improvement to existing processes.
The sessions were scheduled to target geographically diverse areas around the state, although participation in meetings was not limited to participants only from those targeted locations. Many participants attended the meeting which best fit their schedule versus the one scheduled for their geographic location. The identified geographic locations included Spokane, Whatcom County, Bellingham, Yakima, Walla Walla, King, Pierce, Thurston, and Clark Counties. WSWC also scheduled an additional forum specifically for directly impacted domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, for which the WSWC sought to provide additional level of privacy. Fifty-two survivors, survivor advocates, and survivors’ representatives participated in the eight listening sessions. Each session lasted roughly an hour and a half.
The Listening Forums were facilitated by Grace Huang, Chair of the Safety Committee of the Washington State Women’s Commission, Director of Policy for the Asian-Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, and Member of the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence. Commissioner Huang provided participants with background information on E.S.S.H.B.1320 and facilitated the listening sessions following a list of standardized questions that had been prioritized by the coordinators of the H.B. 1320 workgroup of the Washington State Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission.
These questions were used to structure the sessions, so each session was uniform in organization. Time was then allowed for any additional input that participants wished to share but did not fall under the pre-set Q&A format. This report presents an overview of the input provided by the advocates, stakeholders, and survivors that participated.
This report summarizes input on the the following issues:
- Inclusion of Coercive Control in the Definition of Domestic Violence
- How to Protect the Safety and Privacy of the Victim when Filing Evidence
- Harmonization of Jurisdiction
- Best Practices for Minor Petitioners and Respondents
- How to Protect the Safety and Privacy of the Victim when Filing Evidence
- How State Courts Can See the Existence of Protection Orders from other Jurisdictions
- How to Improve Access to Unrepresented Parties
- Best Practices for Courts when Civil Protection Order Proceedings Coincide with Criminal Proceedings Concerning the Same Alleged Conduct.
Read the report here:
