ANEW BUILDING BEYOND VIOLENCE AND ABUSE

The purpose of the court advocacy program is to provide domestic violence victims with information and support as they attempt to obtain relief from domestic violence through the criminal or civil court system. This protection is generally in the form of an order of protection allowed through the illinois domestic violence act. The court advocacy program provided information and assistance to 432 domestic violence victims, provided orientation to 1,490 people seeking an order, provided information and referrals to 1,232 people seeking legal related services and assisted 207 victims in obtaining an order of protection.

The community education program provides prevention education to help 5,429 students identify dating violence and domestic violence and to give them information on the services that are available to help. They also provide outreach and education on domestic violence related issues to 5,337 professionals, community leaders and the general public.

The crisis intervention program provided 229 nights of emergency shelter to 65 adult & child victims and provided support to 1,188 hotline callers.

The purpose of the partner abuse intervention program is to provide re-learning opportunities for individuals who have harmed thier partners. These groups consisited of 27, two hour classes. 100 new men and women were assessed for this program and 129 attended paip groups. Of these who attended the groups, 37 completed the program and 45 were still attending the groups.