Pro Bono Spotlight
It’s called “The Missing Link” and not everybody is supposed to know too much about it since there are people who could use this information for bad intentions.
The Missing Link is not a secret society. It’s simply a group of legal professionals who saw a need to help people who are suffering physical abuse at the hands of the very people who are supposed to love them.
Once a month, since 2005, this group of attorneys and paralegals gather at a somewhat secretive and secure location to meet with the victims of domestic abuse in order to help them clear one of the biggest hurdles they face on the road to recovery: Divorce.
“The location is kept confidential to protect our clients,” says Missing Link co-founder Marla Buchanan, an attorney with Rogers Towers who specializes in difficult divorce cases.
Because of the violent and dangerous nature of the clients’ problems, security and some secrecy only makes sense, she explains. A person who is dangerous enough to beat his or her spouse might not have much inhibition against going out and trying to find that spouse after they have left the home.
“Meetings such as these can be the most dangerous time for an abused spouse,” says Kathy Pannell, Missing Link co-founder and Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Victims Counselor. But it’s a meeting that is necessary if the abused spouse is going to get on with her or his life. Because, next to actually physically separating and finding a safe place to live away from the abuser, dealing with the bureaucracy and paperwork of filing for a divorce can be the next most-daunting challenge an abuse victim can face.
“It can get complicated, and a lot of our clients don’t have many resources,” Buchanan says. “If there are a lot of assets or children involved, it can be too much for one person to handle — especially when that person is living an uprooted life and in constant fear of renewed violence. In addition, in such relationships it is usually the abuser, not the victim, who is in control of the finances, so many of the victims escape their situations with little more than the clothes on their backs.”
The Missing Link is currently working to incorporate as a non-profit group so that it can begin collecting donations to try to help offset the financial burdens faced by many of its clients. In Duval County, it costs $409 just to file for dissolution of marriage. Even the payment option the county offers is often too much for many of these victims.
The name Missing Link refers to this one aspect — a possible stumbling block — on the path to freedom for these abused persons. There are agencies designed to house and protect domestic violence victims, but, up until 2005 in Jacksonville, there was no one there to help these desperate people through the legal maze of divorce. Without this official severing of their relationships, the victims remained legally and financially bound to their abusers and unable to move on with their lives.
“It’s an incredibly daunting time for these individuals,” says Cindy Huston, President of the Northeast Florida Paralegal Association (NEFPA). “If you don’t work in the legal field, this process can be very tough.”
The Missing Link was created in July 2005 after a close relative of Co-founder Carol Ann Benjamin died as a result of domestic violence. The paralegal eventually partnered with Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Victim Services Counselor Kathy Pannell and Buchanan to get The Missing Link off the ground. Along the way, attorneys Jaime Ibrahim and Marcellina Spigner of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid have joined the cause, as well as dozens of paralegals from NEFPA.
“We usually meet with about 8-10 clients per month,” Pannell says, estimating that the group has helped approximately 400 victims through the divorce process since its inception.
In 2007, The Missing Link was awarded the City of Jacksonville’s Victims’ Rights Week Outstanding Judicial Victim Advocate Award for its efforts.
The majority of the abused victims are women, and paralegal volunteer and NEFPA member Allison Smith said she is grateful this group is there for them.
“So many women get trapped in these abusive relationships,” she says. “It’s great that they have a place to go to get help and that we have an opportunity to come in here and help them.”
One Client. One Attorney. One Promise.
(Italics) Requests for civil legal assistance from the Fourth Circuit’s low-income families have never been greater. Attorneys are needed in all areas of civil law for pro bono representation. Contact Kathy Para, Chairperson, JBA Pro Bono Committee, for information on areas of greatest need, volunteer opportunities in Fourth Circuit legal services organizations including Missing Links, and support for pro bono attorneys at [email protected] or 356-8371, ext. 363.