1.  What would survivors have done if domestic violence programs didn't exist?

2.  What barriers do survivors experience meeting their goals?

3.  What type of assistance from their communities and other service agencies would be helpful to them as survivors?

4.  What would they have told the Governor of Illinois about what they need as survivors of domestic violence?

• Theme of resiliency and commitment to leave the abusive relationship:  seek out other services;  go to family; or become homeless

• Theme of confusion and uncertainty

• Theme of living in fear and staying in the abusive relationship:  thought it was normal; stayed and become violent; stayed and would be dead

Quotes from Survivors:

"I would have stayed in the relationship...."

"I might be dead.  I might be in that same relationship.  I might be in prison-I was ready to hurt that man."

"I would be dead.  Honestly, I wouldn't have survived that last incident."

"More than likely, I would have been murdered by the hand of my abuser."

"He may have killed me or caused me to have a miscarriage."

"Probably be on the street or return to a violent situation."

"I would have been homeless with no where to go.  I was living in a storage unit."

"I would have looked for a cave or a vacant barn and stayed there."

"More than likely my children and I would have tried to find another shelter or stayed in my vehicle."

"Attempt to go to DHS and go to a homeless shelter. ...  So I would have gone but really I wouldn't of had a safe place to go."

"I would have had to go on several low income housing waiting lists.  I would have to wait until something came up.  I am very lucky that an apartment opened up in the [domestic violence program]."

"I would have been in trouble, I would have had to go to [another state] to my brother's with no money and no transportation."

"Fall apart!!  Not sure--this program has been everything to me.  I would not have had the strength to carry on for myself and my children."

"I would not have understood what was happening, I would have thought it was my fault, blamed myself and repeated the same patterns."

"Stay with my abuser and physically and mentally disturb by children's lives.  Be a parent I don't want to be and live in mental misery.  Always wonder if one day it will go too far and he would kill me and my kids would be raised without my protection, and maybe someday become victims themselves."

• Theme of external barriers:  inability to financially support the family; lack of childcare; lack of housing; lack of transportation; lack of general resources

• Theme of internal barriers:  fear; grief and loss; self-esteem and confidence

• Theme of legal barriers:  response from courts and states attorneys; response from law enforcement; immigration issues

Quotes from Survivors:

"I'm starting from the bottom of the barrel and it is hard to find a job.  I had problems getting away from my abuser because of lack of money and a way out."

"Lack of money, lack of confidence.  Feeling too old to be hired at a job...."

"DV relationships destroy your confidence and then you worry that you can't get on your feet again."

"Fear not knowing where he was or what he would do next.  It took me a long time to get over the paranoia.  I am still working on realizing that my fear was not paranoia but realistic."

"I was afraid for my safety if I left, as law enforcement frequently fails to protect."

"My husband found me at two other domestic violence shelters, so I needed to find ... someplace outside [my area of the state]."

" The courts have too many appeals.  Not letting the perpetrator continue to abuse the system by dragging out cases.  More justice and sensitivity to victims needing to miss lots of work.  Take time off to find and pay for extra child care."

"Faulty cooperation from law enforcement and state's attorneys office.  Police disclosed address to abuser, refuse to arrest on violations of order of protection.  I've been told by police that verbal abuse is 'okay' and have been treated like a criminal instated of the victim."

"Language barrier and isolated...."

• Theme of ability to financially support family with a job

• Theme of assistance with basic necessities:  housing; childcare; transportation; medical care; assistance with food, utilities, and furniture

• Theme of legal/law enforcement improvements

• Theme of counseling and therapy:  for survivors; for their children

• Theme of increased public awareness

Quotes from Survivors:

"Helping us with attorneys in divorce court and all the custody battles would take a huge load off.  My ex-husband has tried to so many times over the last four years, to get my kids.  He even wants me to pay his lawyer fees and I can't even get one of my own."

"Legal aid not really hearing my needs and helping me understand, someone to direct survivors on legal matters.  More available victim and advocates at State's Attorney's Office.  Someone you know you can trust."

"I think teachers need more education on what kids who live in homes like ours need.  They need to understand what my kids might have had to deal with before coming to school that day, or what they might deal with after school and to not label my kids or try to put them in behavior classes...."

"Teaching DV in school..."

"Awareness level in the community needs to be heightened--more education.  Other service agencies other than DV organizations need to 'get it'."

"More DV education for community and other agencies including police, lawyers and judges, also churches."

• Theme of services for victims:  funding for DV providers; need for basic necessities such as housing including transitional; housing, childcare, transportation, employment and education assistance

• Theme of improved systemic response from legal and law enforcement community

• Theme of appropriate response to perpetrators: stricter and more reliably enforced penalties; required perpetrator intervention programs

Quotes from Survivors:

"The government is not helping survivors enough.  We need transitional housing for victims of DV and their children.  We need comprehensive shelters that provide a safe environment for training, GED classes, and child care."

" ...  We need support.  We need services and we need them to come from the DV programs."

"Could you consider more funding for domestic violence, transitional housing, separate police departments or offices trained in DV, daycare funding,...and funding for higher education while in shelter and recovering from domestic violence."

"To have programs that can help people with both the immediate need and long term challenges that send women back into abusive situations.  Please give the dv agencies more money to help people.  It can be a matter of life or death for some people and there are not enough resources to go around for everyone in need..."

"...I need housing in a community that me and my son can live a normal life with a good school and start a career.  So if you can [provide more funding for services], I would love to try to live a normal life as a survivor of domestic violence."

"When my sister was stabbed, my mother had her in the emergency room before the police got to her door.  We need better cops.  The police need to be better education on the dynamics of abuse and what victims are going through."

"[I] need to feel safe in my own surroundings and when orders of protection are not enforced, it makes it very hard to feel like your not just wasting your time trying to protect yourself."

'We need to improve the legal system and police.  It needs to work better for victims to make it not so hard to get the help and accountability and safety we need." 

"...batterers are arrested, released, and rearrested and it is still a misdemeanor.  We need to to hold batterers accountable."

"Laws for quicker sentencing of the perpetrators.  More options for low cost or pro bono legal help, tougher laws on perpetrators that would create and enforce more limits on abuser access tot he children who were abused or witnessed any form of DV."