Alexandria Ruden and Michael Smalz received the Croucher Family Award for Outstanding Advocacy from the Ohio Domestic Violence Network.

Alexandria Ruden and Michael Smalz received the Croucher Family Award for Outstanding Advocacy from the Ohio Domestic Violence Network.

Two Ohio Supreme Court advisory committee members received awards today during ceremonies at the Ohio Statehouse marking Ohio Domestic Violence Network’s (ODVN) 25th anniversary and the start of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Alexandria Ruden of the Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence and Mike Smalz of the Advisory Committee on Children and Families were recognized by the ODVN for their outstanding advocacy. Ruden is an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. Smalz is an attorney with the Ohio Poverty Law Center.

Ruden and Smalz have been involved in numerous domestic violence policy initiatives, including the creation of Ohio’s domestic violence protection order forms that are available through the Ohio Supreme Court Domestic Violence Program.

The program assists local courts and justice system partners develop and strengthen effective responses to domestic violence and related cases. The domestic violence protection order forms translated into four foreign languages have been updated and are available online. Local courts can find other resources on the program’s web page, such as a protection order overview card and a statute and rule reference chart.