About Us

The Billings Area Family Violence Task Force began in May 1990. The creation of the Task Force was, in part, the result of the McGuire Memorial Conference on Family Violence held in Billings that same month. On December 2, 1989, Isabel McGuire and her two young daughters, Kate and Jenny were killed by Isabel’s second husband, Chris Dennis. Two days later, Chris Dennis also killed himself.

Friends and professional associates of these doctors decided that an educational conference would be one way to bring about public awareness of the seriousness of violence in family homes and to point out the tragic results that may occur if the violence is allowed to persist. In May 1990, the McGuire Memorial Conference on Family Violence was held.

On the second day of the conference, a simple question was put to the group of participants, “Where do we go from here?” To respond to the question a short planning meeting was held at the end of the conference for those who were interested in continuing to try to bring awareness to our community about family violence. At that planning session, it was decided that a group was needed to work on the issues. So, the Billings Area Family Violence Task Force was established for this purpose. The Task Force was incorporated in 1990 and within a few years was established as a not-for-profit tax exempt organization.

The original planning group very consciously decided that the Task Force would not take actions that in any way would diminish what other groups could accomplish in the provision of direct services. In addition to bringing community members together on a monthly basis for purposes of collaboration and education, our major tasks each year are providing education through our Speakers’ Bureau and planning the annual McGuire Conference. We also continue to provide educational resources in printed forms through a Resource Handbook and a Pocket Guide. Note: a revised Family Violence Handbook and Resource Guide is coming soon.