Women Aware Inc.

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2012 to Dec 31, 2012

Signed

Sep 19, 2013

Return Version

2012v2.1

Gross Receipts

$2,051,776

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Non residential services:women aware offers a full breadth of non-residential services to victims of domestic violence including legal advocacy, a trauma reduction art therapy program for children, and a variety of community education and advocacy programs. Our legal advocacy department assists victims with exploring their options and understanding their legal rights under the new jersey prevention of domestic violence act, including obtaining a temporary restraining order and/or a final restraining order. Advocates educate victims on the dynamics of abuse and their legal options. In addition, they provide advocacy, resources and referrals to appropriate services, as well as safety planning, court preparation and accompaniment. Free monthly legal clinics are provided for victims of domestic violence where volunteer family law attorneys are available to provide a one on one consultation. Services are provided in english and spanish. In 2012, women aware's legal advocacy department served 1,902 clients. Our trauma reduction art therapy program for children, known as pals (peace: a learned solution) offers counseling for children ages 3-12 and supportive services to families who have been victimized by domestic violence and abuse. Services for children include individual and group creative arts therapy counseling sessions. Counseling services for children are designed to promote children's well-being and help them recover from the effects of domestic violence. Creative arts and play are children's natural way of learning, developing, and expressing their feelings. It involves the use of art, music and play to help children express and explore their feelings, learn more positive ways to cope, solve problems, and teaches children socialization skills, conflict resolution skills, and alternatives to violence when expressing one's anger. In 2012, pals provided 855 hours of counseling to 85 children. In addition, women aware provides a liaison between our organization and middlesex county division of child protection and permanency (dcp&p) offices to provide support and advocacy to their clients who have been victims of domestic violence. The goal is to assist dcp&p caseworkers with domestic violence assessments to identify abuse, and intervention for victims of domestic violence and their children, and to offer guidance about critical steps for protecting them. Dcp&p caseworkers and domestic violence liaisons (dvl) work together to review cases where domestic violence may be an issue and develop case plans. The dvl provides consultation to dcp&p caseworkers throughout the duration of cases involving domestic violence, including help with referrals to other services such as emergency sheltering or transitional housing. The dvl partners with dcp&p caseworkers on site and on home visits to provide direct support for clients to assist them in understanding domestic violence and its impact, safety planning for victims and children, protection protocols, advocacy, referrals, and provide legal information and options. Services are provided in english and spanish.women aware strongly believes that in order to reduce domestic violence, we must educate the public about domestic violence and its consequences. Providing information and education about domestic abuse, its consequences and how to assist victims is an important tool for prevention. Our community education department can provide professional domestic violence training to clergy, attorneys, law enforcement, school personnel, mental health providers, health care providers, court personnel, human services and corporate conferences. A general domestic violence awareness and education workshop can be provided to employees, church and civic groups and the community at-large. Teen aware, the teen dating violence prevention and education program, is designed for elementary, middle and high school students, college students, staff, youth groups and parents. In 2012, women aware provided work

Filer

EIN

22-2374378