October 9, 2015

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but Community Legal Aid is working all year round to fight domestic violence.  According to the CDC, every year approximately 10 million people across the country are survivors of domestic violence. It is extremely difficult for an individual to regain independence and break free from the cycle of violence, but legal aid is a key component to ending the abuse. 

In a study published in the journal of Contemporary Economic Policy in 2003, the authors concluded that legal services are one of the only factors that contributed to the decline of domestic violence in the 1990’s. The authors explained that “[t]he availability of legal services in the county of residence has a significant, negative effect on the likelihood that an individual woman is battered…. Because legal services help women with practical matters such as protective orders, custody, and child support they appear to actually present women with real, long-term alternatives to their relationships.”[1] 

Community Legal Aid is using its amazing team of lawyers to help individuals in exactly this way. One of Community Legal Aid’s projects is the Battered Women’s Legal Assistance Project. Through this program, people expericing domestic violence are provided free legal counsel for family law cases involving child custody and visitation, paternity, child support enforcement and divorce. Domestic violence survivors can also receive legal assistance in housing, health coverage, and domestic violence-based immigration status. 

For Karla Clarke, Community Legal Aid was there when she needed help. After she and her children ran away from her abusive husband, Community Legal Aid stepped in and was able to help her finalize her divorce, get a restraining order, and keep full custody of her three children. “Community Legal Aid became a savior for my family,” Karla says. Click here to read her full story. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse and needs help with one of the legal issues previously discussed, please go to our website to apply for help: http://www.communitylegal.org/get-help/how-get-help 

 [1] (Farmer, A. and Tiefenthaler, J. 2003. Explaining the Recent Decline in Domestic Violence. Contemporary Economic Policy, 21: 158–172).