Family Protection Department (FPD) in Jordan: The Legal Arm to Protect Women and Children from Violence, Exploitation, and Abuse

Abstract

Drawing on the facts that were coming from survivors and victims of domestic violence, sexual assaults and child abuse in Jordan and out of the challenges that social and legal personnel used to encounter while dealing with such cases, a holistic approach of practice was a crucial need. The Family Protection Department is a police department that was established to achieve this purpose. FPD today is one of the pioneering bodies in the MENA region that handles cases of gender-based violence, sexual assaults, domestic violence and child abuse in a one-stop service. This encourages people, who describe privacy and honor as deep values that shape their society, to report incidents of abuse since FPD fulfills their desire for privacy and confidentiality. This paper aims to shed light on the most important stages of the history of FPD establishment as experienced by myself as a police officer at that time. It also traces the emergence of police social work from the era of founding the Family Protection Department (FPD) of the Directorate of the Public Security in Jordan till 2019. The paper examines the most significant governmental and none governmental initiatives that have provided support for forensic social workers to reach out to at-risk children, abused children, and Domestic Violence clients. This paper also discusses the role of forensic social work in Jordan in advocating for the social service needs of abused children, those at risk of neglect and abuse, their families as well as of perpetrators.