Speak Up!
– Barbara Siegel, Clinical Director
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, providing an important opportunity to speak openly and honestly about intimate partner abuse happening in our community. Silence and misinformation can impair the understanding about its occurrence in Jewish homes. If we truly want to break the cycle of abuse, we must actively participate and we must educate ourselves about the issue. Here are a few ways to use your voice to help facilitate change and strengthen our community:
- Host a program to educate family, friends and/or colleagues.
- Change your Facebook profile picture to a purple ribbon.
- Request an Awareness Month yard sign from SHALVA to display at your home, business or synagogue.
- Follow SHALVA on social media.
- Share our monthly e-newsletter with a friend.
- Send a SHALVA tribute or memorial card to honor someone special.
Report on Orders of Protection in Illinois
SHALVA is a proud member of the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV), which recently released a report for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The report identifies several trends that are blocking domestic violence survivors from fully accessing the protections of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act. These trends include
- protection orders that are not promptly and diligently entered and enforced by the courts,
- a legal system that has not adequately acknowledged domestic violence as a crime, and
- a widespread failure to protect and assist victims and their children.
The report also makes recommendations to address these shortcomings.
The full report is available here.
Continuing Legal Education: Film screening of Home Truth & Analysis
Jessica Gonzales’ three daughters were killed in 1989 after being abducted by their father in violation of a restraining order. Gonzales filed a lawsuit against local police, claiming they did not adequately respond to her calls for help. Jessica pursued her case all the way to the Supreme Court and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Watch the movie and learn from our expert about the use of danger assessments and how they can prevent tragedies like Gonzales’ from happening again. We will review recent case law, as well as other suggested changes to the legal system.
Featured speaker:
Diane Rosenfeld
Lecturer on Law and Director of the Gender Violence Program at Harvard Law School
Wednesday, October 23, 2019 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
The L3vel
200 N. LaSalle Street, Third Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60602
FREE program with 2.0 hours CLE professional responsibility credit (pending)
Thank you to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers for their generous support of this program
