Battered Women’s Justice Campaign
Launched in 2005, the Battered Women’s Justice Campaign is a comprehensive effort to reform two of the most bureaucratic and powerful systems in New York City—the Family Court and the Integrated Domestic Violence (IDV) Court systems. VOW members are actively campaigning to have these court systems:
- Take allegations of domestic violence seriously.
- Hold batterers accountable.
- Make custody decisions that protect children and abused women.
- Hold judges, lawyers and law guardians accountable for their actions.
Housing Justice Campaign
Safe, affordable housing has never been more difficult to find in New York City. For battered women using the domestic violence shelter system, the difficulties are compounded. Multiple factors impede a women’s ability to find housing. VOW members are actively campaigning to:
- End the atrocious New York City Housing Authority’s requirement of presenting two types of documentation about being physically abused or having a near-death experience in order to receive housing options quickly.
- Increase the length of stay in a domestic violence shelter beyond 135 days. Without housing options, survivors have to make grim choices – they can enter New York City’s non-confidential homeless system, double-up with friends or family, or worse, return to their batterer.
- Work with our community partners to identify permanent housing options for survivors of domestic violence.
Rights of Children Coalition
Why should a child be subjected to intrusive examinations, physical examinations, and trauma by the child welfare system in New York City? It happens when an abuser makes a false and malicious child abuse report. VOW members are actively campaigning to:
- Discourage false and malicious child abuse reports by abusers.
- Develop adoptable recommendations about how to track false and malicious reporting for the New York City Administration for Children Services.
- Improve the Child Welfare system’s handling of cases where domestic violence is present.