Material Listing

This report contains the survey results which show a strong disconnect between victims of domestic violence seeking help from law enforcement and the support those authorities are tasked with providing. The report highlights a number of factors that create major obstacles for victims attempting to cope with domestic violence – from distrust of the authorities to fear of punishment from their abusive partner.

The study covers homicides involving one female murder victim and one male offender, and uses data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Supplementary Homicide Report.

Developed for Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2015, this infographic calls attention to the scope of domestic violence in the U.S., geared to a social work audience.

This tool is designed for judges to promote consideration of ways to maximize a child’s safety as they determine issues of custody and visitation.

This webpage includes tips to help survivors be safer getting to the courthouse, once inside the courthouse, and leaving the courthouse. Example tips include: bring a friend or family member to the courthouse, identify safe places to sit near courthouse security, and have a police or sheriff escort the survivor to transportation after the proceeding.

This webpage emphasizes the need to implement pretrial and courthouse safety planning for survivors, and offers recommended steps for creating such a safety plan.

This resource provides an overview of family law options for immigrants and immigrant victims, with a particular focus on how to address and respond effectively when immigration status, language access and other issues intersect in family court cases involving immigrants.

This page on WomensLaw.org includes information on VAWA laws for abuse victims, U Visa laws for crime victims, T Visa laws for trafficking victims, Asylum, and Refugee status.

LSC is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974 to provide financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 134 independent nonprofit legal aid organizations in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. Territories.

This webpage includes a drop-down menu where you can select a state and view links to lawyer referral services and legal aid organizations in that state. Listings are organized either by county or by city/town within each state.

This directory includes a comprehensive guide to volunteer opportunities in different states. At the top of the above-listed webpage, attorneys can find a link to the Domestic Violence Pro Bono Guide. Attorneys can then select the state in which they wish to offer their pro bono services.

This directory links to the contact information of many state and local bar associations. A bar association is a professional organization of attorneys who practice law in the same county, city, or state, or who practice law in a particular topic area (for example: family law). Some bar associations are voluntary, while others require that all attorneys practicing in that location or practicing that area of law are members.

This handbook is intended to provide information to attorneys representing survivors and victims of intimate partner violence who are connected with the military, which includes service members, veterans, or partners of abusive service members or veterans.

This handbook was created to provide guidance to attorneys so that they can help survivors achieve their civil legal objectives when trauma or other mental health challenges are a potential factor in a case.

This chart summarizes laws around when communication is protected (i.e., is privileged or confidential) between domestic or sexual violence victims and advocates, and defines various advocate roles and types of communication.

This document reviews the unauthorized practice of law (UPL), how UPL claims are enforced, justifying the prohibitions, issues for domestic violence advocates and victims, areas of “safe” and “cautious” legal advocacy, prohibited areas of legal advocacy, and best practice recommendations.

This site provides a listing of legal assistance resources in each state, accessed by selecting a state from the drop-down menu under “Do You Need to Find Legal Help?” or clicking on the state on the map. Listings include information on legal aid for low-income people and specialized help for those who qualify. Information is also available in Spanish.

This section of WomensLaw provides tips on preparing for a final protection order hearing in civil court. Although it is geared towards protection order cases, the general principles may be useful for litigants representing themselves in other types of cases as well, such as custody cases.

This section of WomensLaw includes information on choosing and working with a lawyer in civil court proceedings, such as protection orders, custody, and divorce.

This video addresses the evolution of supervised visitation and exchange services, and the role of courts in balancing the value of parent-child relationships and the need for safety for children and parents who have experienced domestic violence.

This chart includes information on whether a state’s laws create a preference, or presumption, for joint or shared custody in cases where there has been a history of domestic violence.

This Legal Resource Kit is designed to give an overview of the protections provided by the laws of different states so that survivors can make informed decisions about how to deal with domestic violence issues in the context of custody disputes.

This guide is designed for domestic violence survivors who are representing themselves, without an attorney, in court cases involving child custody. It includes chapters on finding an attorney, financial considerations, custody and divorce mediation, gathering evidence for trial, unsupervised visitation and safety planning, tips for dealing with custody evaluators, guidelines for selecting an expert witness, relocation, and many more.

This guide was designed to acquaint women considering a divorce with general information about divorce and the law. It provides women, regardless of the circumstances surrounding their divorce, with knowledge and resources to help ensure that their children, health, finances and safety are secure.

This chart depicts states where domestic violence is given extra weight under the best interest of the child (BIC) factors and states where there is a domestic violence exception to considering certain best interest of the child (BIC) factors.