Resources in the United States

سەرچاوەکانی ئەمریکا لەسەر کۆرۆنا ڤایرۆس

Staying safe as a survivor depends from person to person, and DV is exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is increasingly important to have access to resources for DV survivors and their loved ones. If you are in immediate danger, please call 911. If you need access to a DV hotline, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. This page is intended to provide resources for DV survivors and their loved ones in the US. If you are a survivor, know that there is nothing you have done to warrant this abuse. Moreover, please remember that you know your own safety and situation best, and know which resources may or may not benefit you.

Abuse Checklist:

Important Numbers

Here are some other numbers to keep in mind as well:

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), (Video call: (206) 518-9361 for deaf callers)
COVID19 hotline: 1-800-985-5990
Crisis text line: 741741
Suicide prevention line: 1-800-273-8255

Staying Safe as a Survivor

Your safety is of utmost importance. You know what resources are best for you. That being said, this section hopes to provide some important resources for DV. Here is a link on staying safe during domestic violence: https://au.reachout.com/articles/domestic-violence-and-what-you-can-do-about-it.

Organizations to Reach out to

National Domestic Violence Hotline

The National Domestic Violence Hotline is a hotline and resource for survivors of DV. The hotline provides 24/7 access to trained responders via the website or by calling 1-800-799-7233. You can also find information about DV, including information about safety as a survivor, on the site.

National Network to End Domestic Violence

NNEDV is a social justice organization that seeks to change the way society views DV nationally and globally, and hopes to help survivors of DV by pushing for changes in policy and providing easy-to-access resources about DV.

Futures Without Violence

Futures Without Violence is also a global social justice organization that seeks to prevent violence against women and children. Through the program, doctors, hotline responders, and other medical professionals learn to deal with violence-based trauma. The organization also focuses on changing policy and social norms to discourage violence.

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence

NRCDV is a resource organization that provides people with the tools and information they need to address and respond to Domestic Violence. Much of their work involves educating people and professionals about DV and how to respond to it.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

NCADV is an organization to educate people about DV, provide resources to DV survivors, and to provide opportunities for people to get involved in the fight against DV. The organization also provides some integral resources for understanding DV during COVID-19.

Click here to find local resources for DV survivors.

If you are a DV survivor, you should evaluate your options and try to do the following:

Create a safety plan that will allow you to consider your options if you face an emergency. Safety plans can also be integral to plan to be able to alert authorities, and safely live with your perpetrator, especially during this pandemic. Click here to creating your own safety plan

Contact a hotline, crisis line, loved ones, or 911 if it is safe to do so. If you believe that contacting a hotline is a safe course of action, click here to access the National DV Hotline.

Seek refuge in a nearby shelter. Click here to find a one near you

During COVID

COVID-19 has exacerbated Domestic Violence by 72%. More and more survivors are in need of help due to the pandemic making it harder to access resources. If you are a survivor, click here to find resources for DV survivors during COVID-19. It’s important you consider adopting a safety plan and reach out to people who you know can call for help if you need it. It’s important you consider adopting a safety plan and reach out to people who you know can call for help if you need it.

Here are some ways you can secure yourself during the pandemic. This is a summarized list from this resource (https://www.thehotline.org/2020/03/13/staying-safe-during-covid-19/):

Ensure that you have a place you can retreat to safely in your home.
Talk to your loved ones about being able to contact them to allow them to call the authorities.
Call 911 if you are in immediate danger.
Know where your nearest shelter is.
Memorize important phone numbers such as the DV Hotline.
Ensure that you have access to cash, transportation, identification, bank information, a phone, health insurance, and any evidence of abuse.

Laws You Should Know

There is a lot of DV information being distributed online and helplines are being expanded upon during this time. In many parts of the world funding and donations to shelters are increasing. Many places are attempting to limit “Risk Factors” associated with DV, such as prohibiting the sale of alcohol during COVID and possibly the same with guns. Modifications to laws regarding DV, such as increased bail and electronic monitoring for perpetrators. Expansions of services besides just shelters for DV survivors, like pop-up centers at grocery stores and key words/phrases at pharmacies to signal abuse.

https://blogs.unicef.org/evidence-for-action/five-ways-governments-are-responding-to-violence-against-women-and-children-during-covid-19/

A great resource is this link, which provides a number of chronologically dated recordings to try and help domestic abuse survivors during COVID. It discusses things like fundraising to keep shelters open, how other countries around the world are dealing with this problem, success stories from around the globe, and helping develop plans for survivors to combat this issue.

https://nnedv.org/latest_update/resources-response-coronavirus-covid-19/

Florida and Okhlahoma have online court sessions due to the courts being closed. They have online sessions for emergency protective orders and can therefore handle domestic violence cases remotely rather than delaying them. They also have a rapid intervention team that monitors current cases and if any are high-risk, sends them immediately to a specialized domestic violence court (online of course). If you want to learn more, listen to this podcast or read it’s transcript.

https://nnedv.org/latest_update/resources-response-coronavirus-covid-19/

It’s very important to know your specifics in terms of laws surrounding DV. Besides it’s legal definition, some laws even allow survivors special privileges based on their circumstances. Important laws or acts include VAWA, Green Cards, and the Gun Control Act. With Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), passed in 1994 and additions were made in 1996, it made domestic violence against an intimate partner a crime within the boundaries of the United States. This Includes physical abuse, stalking, harassment, and violation of a protective order among other things. With Green Cards-Under VAWA, if a person is a survivor of domestic violence and not a U.S. citizen (essentially an immigrant), and your abuser is a U.S. citizen, you are allowed to “self-petition” for a green card, which grants many of the benefits of citizenship (besides voting) and recognizes you as a long-term U.S. resident. Gun Control Act-Additions were made to the act to also make it a federal crime to possess a firearm while under a protective order or having been convicted of DV.

Obviously there are many more laws to read up on and far more information to gather, so don’t be afraid to visit these sources or find out more yourself.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtn/victim-witness-program/federal-domestic-violence-laws

https://family.findlaw.com/domestic-violence/domestic-violence-laws.html

Recovering as a Survivor

Domestic Violence may have a lasting impact on you as a survivor. If you are a survivor of a previously abusive relationship, consider reaching out to your doctor, a therapist, or authorities about dealing with the harmful effects of Domestic Violence.

Here is a link with more help and information: https://www.thehotline.org/help/help-for-survivors/

Here is a link to get in touch with a therapist: www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/domestic-violence

Help for Secondhand Abuse

What Friends and Family of Survivors Can Do

Living in the same household as a perpetrator and watching abuse can be debilitating. Ensure that you have access to important phone numbers such as 911, Domestic Violence Hotlines, Crisis Text Lines, and phone numbers of loved ones. Many of the resources for domestic violence survivors may help survivors of secondhand abuse as well.

Here is a link for help for child abuse: https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Resource_Centers/Child_Abuse_Resource_Center/Home.aspx.

If you are a friend or loved one of a survivor, it is important that you help them where they feel they need help most. Survivors know their safety and what situation they are in the most; don’t try to push them into leaving. it is important that you ensure that your loved one knows they can reach out to you. That being said, there are many ways in which you can help Domestic Violence survivors:

Give them your contact info so they can reach out to you for help.
Establish a code word(s) with them that will let you know whether you need to call the authorities
Stay in touch with them.
Don’t pressure them to leave, especially as DV survivors’ conditions are often exacerbated by COVID-19.
Read up on Domestic Violence.

Click here to find more information about helping a survivor and here

Here are some ways you can read up on Domestic Violence:

This website may be a good starting point on your research about Domestic Violence as well.
This article provides a deep understanding of how Domestic Violence is defined. https://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined/
Here is an article about Domestic Violence policy: https://newrepublic.com/article/119436/how-stop-domestic-violence-experts-offer-5-steps-policymakers

If you feel unsafe around your partner at any moment, you are being abused, please click here for more information

Here is a checklist of some common signs of abuse:

Do you:

Feel unsafe?
Feel afraid of your perpetrator?
Feel that the situation is your fault?

Does you perpetrator:

Humiliate or yell at you?
Control you financially, emotionally, or physically?
Gaslight you or put you down?
Blame you for their abuse?
View you as a sex object?
Hurt you, or threaten to hurt or kill you?
Threaten to commit suicide if you leave?
Control where you go or what you do?
Limit your access to your loved ones, money, the phone, or the car?

If you answered yes to any of these, you are a survivor of Domestic Violence. Click here to access the National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org).

Here is some additional information: