Commission discusses Family Justice Center proposal
TOP PHOTO: Community Health of East Tennessee CEO Teresa Dabney and Liz White with CHET’s Family Center also spoke in support of a family justice center in the county.
By Charlotte Underwood
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- Eighth Judicial District Attorney General Jared Effler addressed the county commission at Monday’s workshop regarding a grant application to help establish a Family Justice Center in the county. He also had the directors of the Scott County and Claiborne County Family Justice Centers address the commission, as did Community Health of East Tennessee CEO Teresa Dabney and Liz White with the Family Service Center who all attested to the need for family justice center in the county.
Effler said that Campbell County has an opportunity to apply for a Family Justice Center Grant, this grant is through the federal government’s Justice Access Grant, which is a three-year grant totaling $350,000 for the three years.
“A family justice center is a center, very similar to our child advocacy center where victims of domestic and sexual assault can go and get all of the services and resources that they need. It is a much-needed resource for our county, just this year, to date, we have had 135 domestic violence cases and 244 applications for orders of protection here in Campbell County,” Effler said.
He told commissioners that the 8th judicial district already has two Family Justice Centers, one in Scott County and one in Claiborne County “to provide a road map of the process of establishing” one in Campbell County and to make it successful.
“It requires partners between law enforcement, prosecution, service providers, county government and also our municipalities. Everyone has to work together and be on board for these to be successful,” Effler said, adding that these Family Justice Centers were “game changers and led to 90 percent participation from victims coming to court and cooperating with the prosecution. In counties that don’t have these justice centers, Effler said they are lucky to get even half of the victims to come to court.
“It really breaks my heart to think what are they going back to, are they going back to an abusive relationship, are we going to be reading this case in the headlines because a domestic situation has turned into a homicide, which tragically happens if we don’t get victims the support they need,” Effler said.
He told commissioners it was a “tremendous opportunity for Campbell County” and that” it has the support of our local law enforcement officers and our local service partners.”
He told commissioners the cost to Campbell County, would be minimal for the first three years, and that the grant would require the county to cover 5 to 10 percent of the site coordinator for the first three years, so around $2,500 the first three years, after that, the county would have to cover 40 to 50 percent of the site coordinator’s salary. The site coordinator would be who was running the family justice center.
Effler also said “it is a good investment and has potential to bring more jobs into our county, and more opportunities will present themselves; those will be additional positions brought into our county, boost employment and help crime victims. This would be a small expenditure for a huge benefit,” Effler said. The position would be under employment in the county mayor’s office.
Effler said “this concept has already made it through the personnel committee of the Campbell County Commission” but they wanted complete buy in from the commission for the success.
Commissioner Zach Marlow said the previous commission had put aside some funds in the 2026-2027 budget totaling $7,500 in account 339 for matching share should Campbell County commission decide to pursue a Family Justice Center.
“The previous commission set that money aside for a family justice center, but you all would have to buy into it as well.,” Marlow also said he thought it was a great idea and that the county needed it, especially if it would result in 90 percent victims cooperating with prosecution.
“It’s a win win for our officers, our victims and our communities… It is a game changer for domestic violence victims,” Effler said.
Commissioner Rusty Orick asked what happened if the grant goes away.
Effler said he had never seen one go away, …
“We have not seen any of the Family Justice Center grants go away and have seen an increase in funding from the state on these types of projects, hopefully we can keep making headway, a lot of that is on myself and my colleagues to speak with the legislators and tell them how important projects like this are,” Effler said.
If the county applies for the grant and is chosen, then a site coordinator will be hired. Then after the three-year period, the Family Justice Center opens its doors, Effler said. It will be the site coordinators job to pull the resources together, identify gaps and get it all figured out to get it up and running.
“I think we could beat the three-year mark because we have so many pieces in place, but it’s more important too, that we want to do it right … having that one key person is so essential,” Effler said.
Campbell County would have to find a place for the site director to work out of.
Effler is asking the commission for a vote to apply for the grant, which will be on next week’s agenda.
Denise West and Christy Harness are the directors in Scott County and Claiborne County Family Justice Centers. They also addressed the commission in support of the program, telling success stories of victims who have had success with the programs in their counties.
“We have put people in shelter, we have protected children, we have stood in the courtroom countless times, when they go to divorce court, we go with them, we take the burden of finding those services off of the officer, but they know they can turn that person over to us and they will be cared for.”
Commissioners briefly talked about possibly renovating the old board of education building and having one of the floors serve as the family justice center. Effler said that renovations could fall under the cost of the grant should the county receive it. Effler also said the position would work remote hours one day a week to serve the folks in Jellico to “help the folks that can’t get across the mountain.”
Community Health of East Tennessee CEO Teresa Dabney spoke and told the commission that having the family justice center would help them serve victims here in Campbell County. Dabney told commissioners that CHET currently works very closely with the Claiborne County Family Justice Center.
“We house some of their people and we have a staff person up there, if this grant is successful, we can apply and we will be awarded a court advocate that will be able to work one on one with these victims as well, so we also will help out with this grant and they will have a staff person to help with it,” Dabney said.
“If we could make this happen, it would be a great opportunity for our survivors of domestic violence we have here in our county to get the services they need,” White said.
Commissioner Ray Perry who is with the Pinnacle in Scott County said every “resource we can get our hands on, it is important to have these resources to give our people.” Perry said any nonprofits that they could help collaborate on with the grant, it would be his pleasure to help.
“We can’t go wrong helping the most vulnerable people in our society, I think both of these, are worth investing into,” said County Mayor Jimmy Jeffries. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-11/10/2026-6AM)
