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Come Monday, victims of domestic abuse in the county no longer will have to travel from place to place finding help for themselves and their children.

The highly touted Family Justice Center, a one-stop center for victims, opens in Rockville, offering a variety of services designed to ease the plight of some of the county's most needy residents.

The center, located on Jefferson Avenue across from Richard Montgomery High School, follows the best-practices model of local, state and national organizations in providing a range of services — including the Sheriff's Office to help with protective orders; the State's Attorney's Office to pursue criminal charges; civil attorneys to represent clients; counselors; detectives and staff to help with referrals to shelters and child services — under one roof. In 2003, President George W. Bush launched a President's Family Justice Center Initiative.

"In the past, people would have to go to almost 40 different sites to get the services they needed. That was just adding a burden for people who were already traumatized," said Hannah Sassoon, domestic violence coordinator in the Sheriff's Office. "We are relocating into one building so that our service would be more accessible, and making it easier for clients instead of easier for providers."

The 24-hour county-funded center in Rockville, which cost $750,000, has been years in planning. It started as an idea among domestic violence advocates and County Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large) of North Bethesda in planning sessions that began June 2007.

With Monday's "soft" opening, most of the service providers are expected to be in place. A second round of providers, including officers from the police department and representatives from the Child Advocacy Center, will move in at a later date.

"About 75 people die each year in the state of Maryland as a result of domestic violence, and by having this center in the county, I hope it will help lower the rates of domestic violence," said Susan C. Mize, vice chairwoman of the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council and a statewide advocate on the issue. "Not only does this center help victims, but it helps all members of a family dealing with domestic violence, including the [abusers]."

Sassoon expects about 100 clients a month to visit the center initially, with numbers increasing as word of the center spreads. Between 150 and 200 protective orders are expected to be handled each month.

In 2007, the most recent available figures, more than 2,000 incidents of domestic violence were documented by county police, and more than 1,500 victims sought help from the county's domestic violence program.

With so many agencies under one roof, it can be challenging to find common ground, said Michaele Cohen, executive director of the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence in Bowie. Montgomery County's history of working collaboratively should ease the challenges, she said.

In Harford County, which has the only other one-stop center in the state, collaboration among agencies was never a concern, said Joseph Cassilly, Harford County's state's attorney.

"When you ask people here who's in charge, we all look at each other because there is really no one person in charge. We all see ourselves as being in charge of helping [victims]," said Cassilly, who has worked with the Harford center since its opening in 2006.

Ultimately, empowering victims is crucial, Cohen said.

"With the economic situation as it is now, people may feel like they can't afford to leave [an abusive situation]," she said. "Sometimes, it's a process. They say, ‘I can't leave now, but maybe after I do "X" then I can afford to leave.'"

"If the family justice center can do something to move victims beyond this point, it should be successful."

The grand opening of Montgomery County's Family Justice Center is May 18.

Staff Writer Sebastian Montes contributed to this report.