SAFE Provides Services Through Snowmageddon February 22, 2010

As DC finally returns to normal after Snowmageddon and its sister storm Snoverkill, SAFE continues services as usual after providing services without interruption during the storms.  The nearly three feet of snow dumped on the city paralyzing everything from the US Postal Service to trash removal.  SAFE is proud to say that we maintained services through our On-Call Advocacy Program Response Line by answering calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for nine continuous days as the sole source of immediate emergency assistance for domestic violence victims in the city.  The Domestic Violence Intake Centers at DC Superior Court, which normally assist twenty to thirty victims a day, were closed for four days straight—leaving victims seeking relief from abuse with very few places to turn.

Many of the people we spoke to wanted to leave their homes for a safer location but could not because of the snow.  Imagine being trapped by a natural disaster like a blizzard or a hurricane with someone who has previously tried to kill you or is currently trying to seriously harm you or your children.  That scenario is most people’s worst nightmare.  It happened during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and is happening to victims in Haiti currently.  Several victims we spoke with were threatened with being bodily thrown out of their homes and locked out with their children during the second blizzard, which was classified as life threatening by local and national authorities.  The type of dependency on one another we all feel, as well as the isolation, when a natural disaster occurs becomes that much more an opportunity for an abuser seeking to make a victim dependent and isolated in the best of times.

By providing services from our IP Based phone system, SAFE staff was able to work from home to provide the same services that they would have provided from the Intake Centers.  The Metropolitan Police Department continued to respond to calls for service for domestic violence in spite of the horrendous weather conditions, and SAFE continued to respond to their calls to us to link victims with vital services.  During that period, SAFE spoke with 95 victims, 11 of whose cases qualified as high lethality.  We provided safety planning, information about legal remedies, and most importantly, a way out of a dangerous household.  In some cases, we were able to provide lock changes because our locksmith contractor had workers driving four wheel drive SUVs that could still handle the snow.  Although taxis were not an option, we contracted with a private car service that had several vehicles and drivers capable of working in these conditions to transport clients.  Hotels were largely full, but were able to place three victims whose cases were extremely dangerous in hotels to ensure their safety.  Because of the scarcity of resources and the challenges presented, we reserved these options for the most severe cases.  In other cases, creative safety planning was required.  One victim and her three small children stayed at a neighbor’s apartment for the duration of the storm because her abuser was still in her apartment.

Immediate emergency services for victims are a vital part of any area’s emergency plan.  We are proud to say that SAFE was able to meet the challenge and continue serving victims as their situations became even more dangerous.