Advocates working with victims of domestic violence understand power and control as it is used in abusive interpersonal relationships; and yet, sometimes our own shelter rules and practices can create another type of power and control for survivors to endure. This presentation examines how rules and practices of a domestic violence shelters can affect women and children living in shelter. This workshop will discuss the methods used by Missouri domestic violence programs as they examined their rules for communal living in residential shelter environments. There is no right answer. However, seven pioneering programs discovered a variety of ways to enhance the residential stay of survivors in shelter and to foster new attitudes about what it means to be an advocate. The presenter will describe the project’s influence on individual advocates and their organizations when they reduced and/or eliminated rules, and how this project opened doors to change in agencies across the state. The workshop will include lecture, activities, and a question and answer session for participants to explore the possibility of conducting this type of organizational change in their own agencies.
Attendees are encouraged to review the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV) publication before the workshop: http://www.vawnet.org/Assoc_Files_VAWnet/NRCDV_ShelterRules.pdf
How the Earth Didn’t Fly Into the Sun: Missouri’s Shelter Rules Project- Slides
