"If the offender has criminal charges pending and [the victim] does not receive a TPO, he can enter the house, can harass her, stalk her." Garrett explained. "He can even come in and take the children, so it’s very important ... we do work closely with the DDA, so if we are the ones who have [the capability] to do TPOs, then we are going to do them."

A TPO does not mean an abuser will be sent to jail, but it does make it easier for the police to arrest an abuser should they come near a victim.

Garrett said that Peace Place has received numerous calls from within the community seeking TPOs against neighbors and other non-domestic related violence.

"But we’re only doing TPOs to protect against domestic violence victims and their children," said Garrett.

"We don’t want the victims being neglected ... we’ll file them all day if that’s what it takes," said Garrett.

Jennifer Cantwell, executive director of Barrow County Family Connection/Communities In Schools, Inc. or BCFC/CIS, said that the Barrow County Health Department, DFCS and other Department of Human Resources (DHR) agencies are experiencing serious cuts.

"The Health Department has had to lay off staff and DFCS administrative staff and case managers are taking furloughs. Since BCFC/CIS is a private, non-profit, I am not currently being furloughed. However, we are expecting 10 percent cuts from our funds that funnel from the legislature, through DHR and the Department of Education. This will amount to about $5,000 in lost funds this year in addition to another $5,000 we lost earlier this year. As a small non-profit that runs on a shoe string budget, these [cuts] are big for us," Cantwell said.

BCFS/CIS absorbs all administrative costs for Holiday Connection, a collaborative project to ensure that all families in need of assistance receive help during the holiday season. The cost of the collaborative effort is about $3,000 and since all community donations go 100 percent to the purchase of new toys, this leaves BCFS/CIS responsible for finding other means to finance the project.

"It is a real struggle this year," Cantwell said. "The cuts have affected funds needed to run Holiday Connection as well as program support we provide to the Barrow County Performance Learning Center and other programs."

"As far as Holiday Connection is concerned," said Cantwell, "the cuts to DHR agencies such as DFCS and the Health Department have affected how these local agencies are able to support the program. They are very strapped right now and unable to participate in organization, donation solicitation and all the effort it takes to serve these families through Holiday Connection," she said.

"They have to be very strategic right now to assure they are covering all those vital services they provide to the community such as child protective services (DFCS) and programs such as WIC (Health Department). In addition, more people are applying for assistance and there are less employees to provide them due to furloughs and lay-offs. More and more people are experiencing hard times and having to apply for assistance such as TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and Food Stamps for the first time just to make ends meet," Cantwell explained.

A spokesperson for DHR, David Noel, said that the cuts that Georgia organizations are experiencing are an ongoing process that is based on what the rest of the country is dealing with.

"Almost all states are dealing with cuts," Noel said, "because of the U.S. economic condition. All state agencies have had to make cuts at 6 percent of their budget for 2008, 2009," he said. "They also had to predict what cuts would look like at 8 and 10 percent of their total budget ... we have to forecast those cuts in case the economic condition continues," said Noel.

Noel explained that in terms of the impact that Georgia organizations are looking at, the loss is at about $90 million for state-wide agencies.

"DHR is committed to minimizing the impact that any budget cuts would have on our core mission and service ... all areas of the agency, including DFCS, are being affected by budget cuts and DFCS is doing everything possible to make sure all of its critical services are impacted as little as possible and despite the cuts, DFCS remains focused on protecting children and strengthening families in Barrow County and throughout the state," Noel said.

Holiday Connection is trying to talk to local community groups to solicit funds and make up for lost ground.

"We are also partnering, as always, with local organizations and community members to serve some of the families that apply for assistance," said Cantwell. "We are trying to help DFCS provide holiday assistance to foster children ... We try to cover all children that apply, but we cannot provide a family’s entire Christmas. All assistance provided is based on donations we receive from the community," she said.

When asked how legislature can help Peace Place, Garrett said money.

"Giving the shelter more finances to handle the [workload] would help," she said.

Peace Place is currently using two staff members, who already have a full schedule of other work, to take on the numerous TPOs that are being filed.

"We need more funding to be able to fund this service without pulling our staff away from their current positions," said Garrett. "We’re covering three counties ... and I only have two staff members who are taking time out of their already busy work week to do this ... I’m even filing some. And we don’t have the funds to hire someone new to do this," she said.

Cantwell said that the services of local non-