Domestic Violation Foundation

Agnieszka Rusinska, Bedziesz Foundation Director
Agnieszka Zachmann, Bedziesz Foundation Assistant Director

Today we met with members of the "Bedziesz" Foundation in Poznan. This is a Domestic Violence Coalition operating in the Wielkolposka District. The members present today included representatives from Family Court Probation, the District Court Judiciary, and Polish Prison Services. The coalition has been in existence since 2002. The Foundation and facility they use today for classes opened in 2008. Unlike Iowa, there is no law that require Batterer's to attend education classes. Judges retain the ability to require the Batterer's Education Program as a condition of probation.

The coalition has three focus areas:
A. Interview and screen Batterers in order to offer the Batterer's Education Program. Offenders ordered to BEP must complete the Batterer's group before the probation supervision period expires. Batterer's that fail to complete group before the probation expires face revocation hearing. If the probation is revoked, the Batterer goes to prison. Once in Prison, the Batterer is forced to complete BEP before release.

B. Providing ongoing two hour training and information group to Social Workers and Probation Officers each month. This activity encourages staff working with Batterers to convince Batterer's to attend the BEP interview before the probation expires.

C. Interaction with victims. Admittedly, this is the smallest focus area for the Bedziesz foundation. The foundation meets with victims to assess impact of the battering. The foundation does not provide services to victims but makes referrals for victims to social services.

There was a great deal of interest on the part of the Bedziesz foundation on our use of motivational interviewing, the Moving On curriculum, Moderate Intensity Family Violence Prevention Program, Silent Witnesses, the Tee Shirt Project, assessment and referral tools, and coalition building. We suspect that Lori will be in contact with members of the foundation for some time after this trip as we share these tools with the Bedziesz foundation.