NCJ Number
209232
Date Published
2001
Length
33 pages
Annotation
This paper presents promising practices for victim service agencies and legal service providers in addressing domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking under the Federal Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program (LAV) authorized in the Violence Against Women Act of 2000.
Abstract
The paper first outlines minimum requirements for grant recipients under the LAV. These requirements pertain to training for service providers, dissemination of information to stakeholders, the prohibition of specified inappropriate services, and the provision of comprehensive legal services to victims. The paper then provides a more detailed description of activities that should not be included in any grant program because they may compromise victim safety. These include mediation, alternate dispute resolution, or joint counseling; a policy of not accepting cases when victims do not have physical evidence; the refusal to represent victims who are also respondents/defendants; conditioning representation on the victim's compliance with a policy with which the victim disagrees; and failure to conduct safety planning with clients. Screening procedures are then listed for prospective clients claiming to have experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, and/or stalking. This is followed by an overview of practices that enhance the safety of the victim, including procedures for assisting the victim to leave an abusive relationship and/or enhance the victim's ability to remain independent from an abusive former partner. A sample personalized safety plan is presented, along with a sample confidentiality protocol, a sample employee confidentiality agreement, a sample authorization for the release of information, a sample funders' confidentiality agreement, a sample intake form, suggestions for how to implement a conflict-of-interest protocol, a policy for serving battered immigrants, and income guidelines.