SERVICE

One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.		  
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  EMPOWERMENT

The process of helping individuals, families, groups, or communities to increase their personal, interpersonal, political, social, and/or economic strength or position and to develop influence that may impact their circumstances.		  
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  ASSESSMENT

An evaluation, which utilizes professional expertise and skills in the collection and analysis of data to understand and describe the nature of service needs of an individual, family, or group. Assessment, as in needs assessment, is also used to determine priorities of program planning and service development for the organization as a whole. See also DIAGNOSIS.		  
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  FAMILY

Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."		  
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  PLANNING

The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.		  
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  RESEARCH

For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.		  
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  PROCEDURES

Written instructions that outline the steps for performing a task(s) or operationalizing an administrative or service delivery process. A procedure can be written as a step-by-step set of instructions or as a narrative description of a process. A procedure tells someone how to do something not just what to do.

Unlike policies, procedures do not need to be approved or reviewed by the governing body, and need not be associated with a specific policy. For example, whereas a broad anti-discrimination policy requires grievance or other procedures in order to be operationalized within an organization, assessment procedures do not require a governing body approved assessment policy.

Note: Procedures are sometimes referred to as administrative policies.

  
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Domestic Violence Services
  
Private Org Public Agency  

PA-DV 3: Safety Assessment and Plan

 
Survivors and providers work together to assess needs and risk factors and develop individualized safety plans.

PA-DV 3.01

 

Within 24 hours or the first working day after initiation of services, survivors receive an initial assessment of:

  1. immediate needs, including medical and dental care, legal assistance, food, shelter, and clothing; and
  2. safety and risk factors for the survivor, the survivor’s children, and any other involved family members.

PA-DV 3.02

 

Safety planning helps survivors to:

  1. assess the potential for short-term and long-term physical and emotional risks;
  2. identify and evaluate available options; and
  3. make informed decisions.
Interpretation: It may be especially important to assess and discuss how to minimize both short-term and long-term risks when a survivor is considering leaving an abusive relationship.
Research Note: Although leaving an abusive relationship has the potential to end the violence an individual faces, some literature suggests that danger, including risk of death, is especially high when a survivor tries to leave an abusive partner.

PA-DV 3.03

 

Survivors guide the development of detailed, comprehensive safety plans that:

  1. reflect their stated needs and goals;
  2. are tailored to their particular strengths, needs, risks, abilities, resources, and circumstances;
  3. build on realistic possibilities and options;
  4. prepare them to promote their safety in various circumstances and places; and
  5. respond to the needs of children, as appropriate.
Interpretation: Plans should help survivors prepare for immediate escape, if necessary, by identifying: (1) safe places to go in an emergency, (2) safe contacts, and (3) items to take when leaving. Survivors and providers should regularly re-evaluate safety plans to ensure that they continue to meet survivors’ needs.
Research Note: Literature highlights the importance of helping survivors develop safety plans regardless of whether they: (1) have left the perpetrator, (2) are in the process of leaving the perpetrator, or (3) will remain involved with the perpetrator. Some research also suggests that survivors who have left an abusive relationship may underestimate their personal risk of returning.

PA-DV 3.04

 
When survivors wish to involve perpetrators in services, providers help them explore what they want to achieve by involving the perpetrator, and evaluate the risks involved.
related PA-ASE 6.04
Interpretation: This standard does not require agencies to involve perpetrators in services. When perpetrators are involved in services the agency should have procedures to protect the safety and well-being of survivors and their children, and the survivor’s safety plan should address issues specific to perpetrator involvement.
Research Note: Because of the potential for danger, as well as the difference in power between the perpetrator and the survivor, some literature cautions against engaging survivors and perpetrators in services requiring cooperative participation, such as couples counseling. Related literature adds that this type of counseling is not indicated unless: (1) both parties request it, (2) the perpetrator has received extensive treatment, and (3) the abuse has ended, which can be difficult to determine. Other literature states that the evidence about the advisability of couples counseling is inconclusive, but notes the need for caution to prevent increased danger.
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PURPOSE: Individuals who receive Domestic Violence Services gain a sense of empowerment, improve their well-being, and increase their ability to live safely and independently.
 
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