Utah Domestic Violence Coordination Framework
DV response coordination, agency eligibility, and partnership guidelines for Utah organizations.
Utah: Regional Domestic Violence Coordination Overview
Utah Domestic Violence Task Force Landscape
Utah’s domestic violence coordination environment is structured around a mix of statewide steering bodies, regional task forces, and county or district-level multidisciplinary teams. These entities typically convene justice-sector partners, social services, community-based programs, health systems, and housing providers to support consistent response and policy alignment.
This page outlines common task force structures, partnership eligibility considerations, and foundational data-sharing notes to support agencies that operate or collaborate within Utah.
Typical Regional Task Force Structures
Regional DV task forces in Utah often align with judicial districts, counties, or multi-county service regions. While names and governance vary, the following models are common:
- County-Based Task Forces: Led or co-convened by county agencies (e.g., county attorney, sheriff, or local human services) with participation from community-based DV organizations, municipal law enforcement, courts, probation, and healthcare partners.
- Judicial-District or Multi-County Collaboratives: Cover broader catchment areas where population density is lower, combining multiple counties under shared protocols for referrals, high-risk coordination, and training.
- Issue-Focused Workgroups: Subcommittees within broader coalitions focused on specific priorities such as lethality assessment, rural access, language access, supervised visitation, or offender accountability.
- Cross-System Coordination Teams: Standing groups that link DV stakeholders with child welfare, homelessness response, behavioral health, and criminal-legal system partners to address cross-system case flow and policy alignment.
Agencies may participate in more than one task force (e.g., a county DV team and a statewide advisory group) depending on service area and program mandate.
Core Functions of Utah DV Task Forces
While specific mandates differ by locality, Utah task forces commonly focus on:
- Developing shared understanding of roles, mandates, and jurisdictional limits among partners.
- Aligning regional practices with relevant statewide frameworks and funding requirements.
- Reviewing cross-agency procedures for referrals, coordinated response, and follow-up.
- Identifying service gaps in rural, tribal, and frontier communities and developing feasible options for coverage.
- Coordinating professional training, protocols, and implementation support for participating agencies.
- Establishing agreed communication channels for routine coordination and time-sensitive issues.
- Supporting data-informed planning through shared aggregate indicators and trend analysis.
Participation Models for Agencies in Utah
Most Utah DV task forces use flexible but structured participation models. Common roles include:
- Convening Agencies: Typically a county or state-level entity, a coalition, or a lead DV program. Responsible for meeting scheduling, agenda planning, and basic documentation.
- Core Voting Members: Agencies with ongoing decision-making authority on protocols, joint initiatives, and shared resource priorities.
- Advisory or Non-Voting Participants: Organizations that participate for coordination and information exchange without formal voting responsibilities.
- Time-Limited or Project-Based Members: Partners that join for specific pilots, grants, or regional initiatives with defined timelines and deliverables.
Participation status is typically specified in written terms, such as a memorandum of understanding (MOU), charter, or participation agreement.
Eligibility for Regional Partnership
Eligibility criteria for Utah DV task forces generally reflect an agency’s mandate, scope of practice, and capacity to contribute to coordinated work. Formal criteria vary by region, but often include:
Organizational Criteria
- Legal Status: Public agencies, tribal entities, non-profit organizations, and some mission-aligned community-based groups operating within Utah.
- Service Relevance: Direct or indirect involvement in DV response, prevention, justice processes, health, housing, or related social services.
- Defined Service Area: Clear geographic catchment that overlaps with the task force region (county, district, or multi-county).
- Policy and Governance Structure: Basic internal governance, written policies, and designated points of contact for interagency coordination.
Operational Criteria
- Capacity for Participation: Ability to assign staff to attend meetings, respond to information requests, and participate in planning or implementation workgroups.
- Alignment with Shared Protocols: Willingness to review, and where feasible, adopt or adapt agreed referral processes and communication practices.
- Data Handling Practices: Baseline confidentiality, privacy, and record-handling procedures that allow for compliant participation in aggregate data-sharing efforts.
- Coordination Infrastructure: Stable contact information, secure communication methods, and internal processes for routing interagency communications.
Membership and MOU Elements
Many Utah task forces use an MOU or charter to clarify expectations. Common elements include:
- Purpose and scope of the regional task force.
- Types of agencies eligible for core, advisory, or project-based membership.
- Designation of voting and non-voting members, if applicable.
- Attendance and participation expectations (e.g., meeting frequency, quorum norms).
- Process for onboarding new members and transitioning or removing inactive members.
- High-level confidentiality and data-sharing principles (referencing each agency’s internal policies and applicable law).
- Protocols for public communications and representation of the task force’s work.
Engagement Pathways for New Partners
Agencies seeking to join Utah regional DV task forces typically follow structured but adaptable steps:
- Initial Contact: Contact the convening agency or chair to confirm regional fit, current membership, and participation expectations.
- Orientation: Attend an orientation or introductory meeting to understand existing protocols, workplans, and data practices.
- Designation of Representatives: Identify primary and alternate representatives with authority to speak to policy, operations, or both.
- Review of Governance Documents: Review any charter, bylaws, or MOUs to confirm alignment with agency mandates and constraints.
- Formal Enrollment: Complete any required letters of intent, MOUs, or participation forms and integrate meeting schedules into internal calendars.
Data-Sharing Notes for Utah Partners
Utah task forces generally emphasize structured but conservative approaches to data-sharing, focusing on aggregate insights, trend analysis, and operational indicators rather than case-specific exchanges during regular meetings.
Common Data Types
Typical data elements that may be used for planning and coordination include:
- Aggregate service utilization statistics (e.g., number of intakes, calls, referrals, or program enrollments by month or quarter).
- Regional capacity metrics (e.g., bed-nights available, program slots, waiting list trends).
- Referral flow information (e.g., volume and direction of interagency referrals across systems).
- Training and technical assistance indicators (e.g., number of personnel trained, topics covered).
- High-level demographic indicators in aggregate form, where appropriate and permitted.
Data Governance and Protocols
To support consistent practice across Utah partners, task forces frequently adopt baseline governance measures:
- Data Purpose Definition: Clear statement of why specific data are collected or shared (e.g., planning, quality improvement, resource allocation) and what will not be done with them.
- Scope and Limits: Identification of which data elements are in scope for routine sharing and which remain internal to each agency.
- Documentation of Processes: Written descriptions of data submission schedules, responsible staff roles, and methods of transmission.
- Review and Adjustment: Regular review of data elements and reports to ensure continued relevance and feasibility for all members.
Confidentiality and Privacy Considerations
Utah partners typically approach confidentiality and privacy using shared principles that supplement, but do not replace, each agency’s legal and policy obligations. Common practices include:
- Limiting routine task force discussions to aggregate or de-identified information.
- Structuring any necessary case-specific coordination through clearly defined, secure channels outside general task force meetings.
- Clarifying how notes, minutes, and shared materials are stored, accessed, and retained.
- Identifying categories of data that are never shared at the task force table (e.g., identifiable client records) unless covered by specific, documented agreements.
- Ensuring that each agency applies its own confidentiality rules before contributing any data to shared reports or dashboards.
Data Management Infrastructure Options
Data-sharing among Utah regional partners may rely on a range of tools, depending on scale and capacity:
- Template-Based Reporting: Standardized spreadsheets or forms submitted on a regular schedule to a designated data coordinator.
- Shared Dashboards: Centrally maintained dashboards that display aggregated metrics by region, provided data inputs are consistent and validated.
- Interagency Data Liaisons: Identified staff in each agency responsible for data extraction, quality checks, and coordination with the task force.
- Integrated with Existing Reporting: Alignment of task force metrics with existing state or federal reporting obligations to minimize duplication.
Integrating Utah Task Forces into Broader Networks
Regional task forces in Utah often operate within larger statewide or multi-state ecosystems. Alignment can include shared standards, coordinated funding strategies, or common evaluation frameworks. Additional coordination resources, templates, and example structures are available through the broader ecosystem hosted at DV.Support, which many agencies use as a reference when updating governance, membership, or data practices.