Cross Agency Approach to Staffing and Preparing Clients for Civil Protection Orders: A Model

While advocacy organizations work to expand attorney services, most will never have enough attorneys to meet the needs of the survivors who need help. With that in mind, and knowing that proceeding pro se can be an empowering and healing experience for survivors getting the right kind of support, Project Safeguard has over time created a variety of pathways for all clients to obtain assistance in filing for and obtaining civil protection orders, minimizing attorney involvement and maximizes client autonomy and organizational resources. Participants with leave with a model for civil legal advocacy, all or pieces of which they can take into their own organizations, and learn from program successes and challenges from both the attorney and non-attorney advocate perspective.