Confidentiality and Safety

This toolkit furnishes transitional housing providers with easy access to information and resources to enhance services to survivors. The information provided here addresses frequently asked questions, common challenges, best practices, templates for adaptation, and resources for additional information and assistance. Topics include models and approaches, financial empowerment, voluntary services, and confidentiality.

Privacy and confidentiality is paramount to safety for victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Yet victim service agencies may need to share information in many ways: with community partners, within community coordinated response teams, through referrals to other service providers, or in community-wide data collection initiatives. This website provides guidance for agencies in understanding their obligations to confidentiality in accordance to federal laws, best practices to ensure survivor-centered services, when and how much information to keep, and how best to share information with others.

Facts and guidance to support working knowledgeably and effectively with survivors with chemical dependency issues.

This presentation explores why confidentiality is core to our work with survivors. Also discusses statutory privilege, VAWA-approved releases of information, informed consent, and child abuse reporting. Note: Some information Oregon-specific. Presentation date preceded successful passage of advocate privilege law in Oregon legislature in 2015.

This policy and practice paper highlights how eight domestic violence organizations are responding to the housing needs of battered women in their communities. There are many different aspects to building housing programs, including resource acquisition, building collaborations with other agencies, and program development. The summaries in this report describe how eight programs tackled these issues.

These powerpoint slides are from a pre-conference session delivered by a diverse group of DV providers at the 2013 National Alliance to End Homelessness conference. Topics addressed include DV dynamics, partnerships, HMIS, safety planning, and best practices.

Guidelines for safely conducting home visits with survivors as part of a housing first approach. 

This study examined survivors’ reflections on the Community Advocacy Project, an empirically supported intervention for women with abusive partners. The study examined the service delivery processes that survivors affirmed or identified as core components of the intervention. Qualitative analysis of interviews with 51 survivors indicated that 3 main service delivery elements contributed to positive outcomes: orientation to the whole person, unconditional validation and acceptance, and an orientation to information provision and action. These overarching themes are described and implications for domestic violence services and dissemination are discussed.

This presentation discusses how programs can create a framework of safety for survivors by considering their approaches to access, assessment,and other policies and practices. Also discussed are the "how-tos" of safety planning and other tips about working safely with survivors receiving services in homeless/housing programs.

A comprehensive presentation that includes information about housing protections for survivors as well as protections for children and youth. Provides guidance toward best practices with these populations.