LA County Board

18. Addressing Physical Safety and Mental Health for Women Fleeing\nDomestic Violence\nRecommendation as submitted by Supervisors Mitchell and Barger: Instruct the\nDirector of Public Health, in collaboration with the Directors of Public Social\nServices, Health Services, Mental Health, and Consumer and Business Affairs,\nthrough the Office of Immigrant Affairs, and the Executive Directors of the\nDomestic Violence Council, Women and Girls’ Initiative, and Homeless\nInitiative, Chief Executive Office, to work in collaboration with the Chief\nExecutive Officer of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, to report\nback to the Board in writing in 90 days with a proposed plan to make mandatory\nthe domestic violence training program created by the Los Angeles Homeless\nServices Authority (LAHSA), and the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and\nNeglect (ICAN), for all domestic violence regional coordinators and homeless\nservice providers that are contracted through the County, including the\nfollowing:\nAn analysis of the components that should be included in this training, a\nlist of providers that should participate, and costs to provide the training\nwithin a six- to twelve-month period;\nA description of the current intake process used by homeless service\nproviders to assist persons fleeing domestic violence;\nRecommendations to align County providers’ intake forms and\nassessment processes with a trauma-informed model to ensure homeless\nand mental health providers’ intake forms appropriately identify persons\nwho may be actively fleeing domestic violence and connect them to\nappropriate services; and\nRecommendations to develop and implement the use of\nculturally-sensitive and trauma-informed release of information forms for\nrelevant County contracted providers based on feedback from persons\nwith lived experience, the Domestic Violence Council, LAHSA and ICAN;\nInstruct the Director of Public Health, in collaboration with the Director of Public\nSocial Services, to report back to the Board in writing in 60 days outlining the\ncurrent process for helping unaccompanied women who are actively fleeing\ndomestic violence, including:\nAn analysis on how the County can keep this population housed in a\nhotel/motel program long enough to determine eligibility for public\nbenefits by increasing the length of stay from a single night to 90 days;\nThe cost and funding options, developed with LAHSA, Domestic Violence\nRegional Coordinators and ICAN, to achieve the above directive;\nA cost projection to include mental health services through the\nDepartment of Mental Health (DMH) and/or DMH-contracted providers in\nthe first 60 days of the client’s intake process and hotel stay; and\nAn outline of the current process for mental health services for this\npopulation and a recommendation to strengthen the process by which\nmental health services are delivered; and\nInstruct the Executive Director of the Homeless Initiative, in coordination with\nthe Executive Director of the Women and Girls Initiative, the Director of Public\nSocial Services, and in consultation with the Chief Executive Officer of the Los\nAngeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), to report back to\nthe Board in writing in 60 days on ways the County can provide free Taxi\nVouchers through the Metro Low Income Fare is Easy (LIFE) Program for\nvictim-survivors who meet the income threshold to qualify for free transportation,\nincluding a cost projection to provide this Metro service to contracted providers\nin special circumstances when the victim is actively fleeing, and a description of\nhow LA Care is currently using the Call-the-Car (www.callthecar.com)\nride-share program and cost projections of using Call-the-Car to quickly\ntransport unaccompanied unhoused women fleeing domestic violence to a safe\ndestination. (23-3566)\nAttachments: Motion by Supervisors Mitchell and Barger\nPublic Comment/Correspondence