SAFETY PLANNING WHILE SHELTERING IN PLACE: DOMESTIC & SEXUAL VIOLENCE DURING THE

COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Presenting to

2020 Virtual Women’s Health Day

May 11, 2020

Tamera Massad, MA Domestic & Sexual Violence Prevention Program Manager

Bureau of Chronic Disease and Health Promotion Arizona Department of Health Services

Overview and Objectives

In this presentation, we will:

• Define safety planning and what a safety plan is; • Examine the dynamics of domestic violence and connect the dynamics with the COVID-19

pandemic; • Discuss safety planning in different scenarios, and lastly; • Identify safety planning and community resources for victim-survivors.

What is a Safety Plan and Why Do It?

Perpetrators try to have power and control over their victim-survivor’s life. A safety plan is one way a victim-survivor can reclaim power and control over their own situation.

Power and Control Wheel Domestic violence is about power and control

Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another.

https://ncadv.org/learn-more

COVID-19 and Increasing Rates of Domestic Violence

While quarantining and practicing social distancing is helping to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, it has also increased the risk factors for domestic violence victims forced with their abuser: • Isolation: Abusers can use this time to further

isolate survivors from their loved ones, restrict and control a survivor’s already limited access and movement in the outside world.

• Restricting Access to Information: Abusers may also restrict access to information and resources regarding the coronavirus and/or COVID-19, make themselves the sole source of manipulated information.

• Increased Abuse: The abuse may worse due to more time being spent together. Survivors may experience new or more severe abuses.

• Digital Stalking: Abusers may try to exert their “omnipresence” by monitoring, controlling, and cyberstalking their partner online.

• Parenting: Survivors who co-parent with their abusers may face additional challenges and barriers such as using childcare or lack thereof to manipulate the survivor; or perpetrating violence in front of the children.

COVID-19 and Increasing Rates of Domestic Violence

Economic Abuse

Economic abuse involves maintaining control over financial resources, withholding access to money, or attempting to prevent a victim-survivor from working and/or attending school in an effort to create financial dependence as a means of control. Victims and survivors are often forced to choose between staying in abusive relationships and poverty or even homelessness.

Economic abuse is a very common reason victims stay in abusive relationships.

Safety Planning

• Checklist • Safety Plan Situations • Safety Planning in Rural Areas

Checklist—What to Take when Leaving

Legal Papers including—Restraining order/stalking order, police reports, lease/rental agreement/house deed, car title and registration, health and life insurance cards, marriage license, divorce papers, custody orders Other Paperwork such as—Medical records, children’s school records, work permits/green card/VISA Identification—Driver’s license/photo identification, birth certificates, social security cards, House and car keys; safety deposit box Medications and copies of any prescriptions Money—Cash, credit/debit cards, checkbook, valuables, Cell phone, backup cell phone if possible, chargers Clothes, hygiene necessities, blankets, small toys for children, small keepsakes

https://www.dvrc-or.org/safety-planning/

Safety Planning

A women is at highest risk of intimate partner homicide when is she is attempting to leave the relationship

Risk of Intimate Partner Homicide

The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation

increases the risk of homicide by 500%.

https://ncadv.org/statistics; “Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results From a Multisite Case Control Study,”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447915/

Safety Planning Scenarios During an Argument

• Stay in an area with an exit and avoid letting the other person get between you and the exit. • Avoid rooms with weapons, such as the kitchen. • Devise a code word or signal to use with your children, family, friends, and trustworthy neighbors when you

need the police.

With Children • Teach your children when and how to call 911. • In the house: identify a room they can go to when they’re afraid and something they can think about when

they’re scared. • Teach them that although they want to protect their parent, they should never intervene. • Help them make a list of people that they are comfortable talking with and expressing themselves to.

Safety Planning Scenarios

With Pets • If possible, don’t leave pets alone with an abusive partner. If you are planning to leave, talk to friends, family or

your veterinarian about temporary care for your pet. Check with local domestic violence shelters if they are pet accessible.

• If you’ve had to leave your pet behind with your abusive partner, try to ask for assistance from law enforcement officials or animal control to see if they can intervene.

In Separate Homes • Change the locks on your doors (landlords are legally obligated to change locks within 24 hours if you are experiencing DV). • Discuss and practice a safety plan with your children for when you are not with them. • Inform neighbors and landlord that your partner no longer lives with you and to call the police if they see him/her near

your home.

Safety Planning Considerations in Rural Communities

If you live in a rural area or a small town, there are some extra things to keep in mind when you’re creating a safety plan. • It may take police and sheriffs a long time to get to a victim-survivor.

– If you call the police, get to a safe place to wait for them to arrive. You may want to go to the home of a trusted friend or neighbor, or to a public place you think is safe.

• A lot of times, there is limited public transportation in rural communities, and the abuser may keep a victim-survivor from using the car. – Make a plan with a trusted friend who can give you a ride whenever you need one. – See if any local houses of worship or spiritual groups can connect you with someone (either a

staff member or a parishioner) who would be willing to drive you.

Safety Planning Considerations in Rural Communities

If your community is very small, people who live in your area may know where the domestic violence shelter is. In other words, the shelter location may not be confidential. • Be aware that the abuser and other people may know where the shelter is and so you cannot let

your guard down when entering and exiting the shelter. • Think about going to a shelter outside of the area where you live, even if it’s only for a little while.

Safety Planning Considerations in Urban Communities

Urban areas tend to have more brown and black communities and there are some considerations to keep in mind: • A victim-survivor may be hesitant to call police because of historical/community trauma and it may

take police a long time to get to them. – If you call the police, get to a safe place to wait for them to arrive. You may want to go to the

home of a trusted friend or neighbor, or to a public place you think is safe. • A lot of times, there may be limited public transportation, and the abuser may keep a victim-

survivor from using the car. – Make a plan with a trusted friend who can give you a ride whenever you need one. – See if any local houses of worship or spiritual groups can connect you with someone (either a

staff member or a parishioner) who would be willing to drive you.

Safety Planning Resources

The National Domestic Violence Hotline | http://www.thehotline.org/help/path-to-safety/ Love Is Respect | http://www.loveisrespect.org/for-yourself/safety-planning/ National Coalition Against Domestic Violence-Personalized Safety Plan | https://ncadv.org/personalized-safety-plan National Network to End Domestic Violence | https://www.techsafety.org/resources-survivors National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence| http://www.ncdsv.org/publications_safetyplans.html Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence | https://www.acesdv.org/about-sexual-domestic-violence/safety-planning/ National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health | http://nationalcenterdvtraumamh.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Tipsheet_Emotional-Safety_NCDVTMH_Aug2011.pdf Domestic Violence Resource Center | http://www.dvrc-or.org/safety-planning/ WomensLaw.org | https://www.womenslaw.org/about-abuse/safety-tips/domestic-violence-victims

National Domestic Violence Hotline—1-800-799-7233 National Dating Abuse Helpline (LoveIsRespect)—1-866-331-9474 Strong Hearts Native Hotline—1-844-762-8483 National Sexual Assault Hotline—1-800-656-4673 National Suicide Hotline—1-800-273-8255 Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence—602-279-2900 or 1-800-782-6400 (M – F, 8:30am – 5pm)

Tamera Massad, MA

Domestic & Sexual Violence Prevention Program Manager

Tamera.Massad@azdhs.gov

602-542-7343 Twitter: @azdhs

Facebook.com/azdhs

THANK YOU