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ICADV Newsletter: Fall 2004
The Safe and Strategic Use of Technology by Domestic Violence Victims
Last year, ICADV funded domestic violence programs
served almost 46,000 adult survivors of domestic
violence and over 10,000 child survivors of domestic
violence. For many of those victims and their children,
the revolutionary tool of the Internet helped them flee
the violence in their lives by providing them with the
tools to reach out to domestic violence programs; find
information on orders of protection; and find housing
and employment opportunities. However, what many victims
don't know is that although technology may be very
helpful to them, perpetrators of domestic violence may
also use these technologies to further their abusive and
controlling behavior.
In August 2002, with funding from AOL Time Warner,
The National Network to End Domestic Violence launched
its SafetyNet project. The primary focus of this project
is to provide information to domestic violence advocates
and victims on the safe and strategic use of technology.
Since then, NNEDV has been able to expand the project
with funding from The Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation
and The Wireless Foundation. One of the goals of the
SafetNet project is to build a network of techie
advocates throughout the U.S. To bring this information
home to Illinois, staff from ICADV attended NNEDV's
Train the Trainers sessions for the Safe and Strategic
Use of Technology by Victims of Domestic Violence and
Their Advocates. ICADV then hosted six trainings for its
member domestic violence programs in June 2004. Although
the trainings were targeted toward domestic violence
advocates, we wanted to also take this opportunity to
raise awareness of the issue of technology safety for
you-a reader of the ICADV newsletter.
- Did you know.
there are hundreds of ways that
computers record everything you do on the them.
Computers can provide a lot of information about what
you look at on the Internet, the e-mails you send, and
other activities. It is not possible to delete or
clear all computer "footprints".
- If you think your activities are being monitored,
they probably are. Abusive people are often
controlling and want to know your every move. You
don't need to be a computer programmer, or have
special skills to monitor someone's computer
activities--anyone can do it and there are many ways
to monitor.
- If you think you may be monitored on your home
computer, you might consider no home Internet use or
"safer" Internet surfing. Example: If you are
planning to flee to California, don't look at
classified ads for jobs and apartments, bus tickets,
etc. for California on a home computer, or any
computer an abuser has physical or remote access to.
Use a safer computer to research an escape plan.
Use a safer computer.
- If you are in danger, please try to use a safer
computer that someone abusive does not have direct
access to, or even remote (hacking) access to.
- It might be safer to use a computer in a public
library, at a community technology center (CTC)
www.ctcnet.org
(national directory), at a trusted friend's house, or
at an Internet Cafe. Most people think the safest,
most private computer is their home computer, but that
may not necessarily be the case for victims of
domestic violence.
E-mail is not a safe or confidential way to talk
to someone about the danger or abuse in your life-much
like mailing a post card to someone compared to
mailing a sealed envelope.
Please call your local domestic violence program
hotline (see
www.ilcadv.org,
DV Programs link) or National Domestic Violence Hotline
(800-799-7233/ TTY:800-787-3224) instead. Traditional
"corded" phones are more private than cellular phones or
cordless phones. For more information on the NNEDV
SafetyNet Project visit
www.nnedv.org.
HMIS Initiative FAQ
National HMIS Technical Assistance
Initiative
U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development
Homeless
Management Information Systems Frequently Asked
Questions
October 1, 2004
Question: Will a
CoC be penalized or competitively disadvantaged if they
have not implemented an HMIS by October 2004, or if the
implementation does not include domestic violence
providers by that date?
The October 1, 2004
date publicly stated by HUD is considered a goal, not a
deadline. On that date, communities that have not
implemented HMIS will not lose their funding or
otherwise be penalized.
The way HUD is
currently rating CoC progress on HMIS implementation is
through the competitive Continuum of Care process. In
2003, HUD awarded up to two points for HMIS progress on
CoC applications, and in 2004 the number of points on
HMIS progress was increased to five. This reflects HUD's
increased focus on HMIS implementation at the CoC level.
As stated in HUD's
Data and Technical Standards Final Notice (July 30,
2004), domestic violence providers are permitted to be
staged last in the HMIS implementation in order that the
community has ample time to identify the strategies and
methods by which these programs can participate without
jeopardizing the safety of those they serve. Although
CoCs must engage domestic violence programs in the HMIS
planning and implementation process, there is currently
no specific date stated by HUD by which these programs
must implement HMIS.
Domestic Violence Legislation
Domestic Violence Legislation passed into law
PA 93-809 (hb4287) DOMESTIC BATTERY increase in
jail time (sponsored by Rep. Raymond Poe and Sen.
Kimberly Lightford): Provides that for a second, or
subsequent, conviction of domestic battery (i.e., now a
felony), violation of an order, or any of several other
related crimes, the person shall serve a mandatory
72-consecutive-hour sentence. Effective 1-1-05.
PA 93-810 (hb4288) DOMESTIC VIOLENCE-FINE
(sponsored by Rep. Raymond Poe and Sen. Jacqueline
Collins): Raises the fines for domestic violence and
sexual assault convictions to $200, from $100. Effective
1-1-05.
PA93-811 (HB4395) PROTECTIVE ORDER REMEDIES
(sponsored by Rep. John Fritchey and Sen. Barack Obama):
Redefines stay-away to include many of the modern
electronic devices that were not available at the time
the Illinois Domestic Violence Act (IDVA) was passed,
such as cell phones, faxes, and email. It includes
non-physical presence, as well as third parties. The law
also up-dates the Civil No Contact sexual assault order,
which uses the new IDVA stay away concepts. Effective
date: 1-1-05.
PA 93-944 (sb2495) ORDER OF PROTECTECTION Full
Faith and Credit (sponsored by Sen. John Cullerton and
Rep. Harry Osterman): Places federal
full-faith-and-credit firearms language on the front of
Illinois orders of protection (OP). This language
currently is on the "uniform" OPs being used in some
counties. While the law does not state that the
remaining counties will have to add the language to
their OP forms, the law states that the language "shall"
be present, meaning that it must be on the front cover
of the forms. The firearm language lets respondents know
that they are not only eligible for prosecution if they
violate Illinois law, but they are eligible for federal
prosecution if they violate any federal firearms laws
throughout the duration of the order. It also helps
standardize the front page so that law enforcement
officers can quickly determine if the order is valid,
who the parties are, and the order's effective date.
Effective 1-1-05.
Book Review: Reading Women's Lives
by Annette Van Dyke
Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts.
New York, NY: Vintage, 1976. 109 pages.
Chinese-American writer Maxine Hong Kingston's
Woman Warrior allows us to explore yet another
woman's life and culture in literature. Kingston uses
imaginative renditions of traditional Chinese stories
and family stories to create a mix of autobiography and
fiction about her growing up in Stockton, California,
the daughter of Chinese immigrants who ran a laundry.
Through these stories, as Chinese scholar Ya-jie
Zhang tells us, Kingston shows "how a Chinese-American
finds her own identity, how much she has to struggle
through-the old culture and the new-and how she uses
words and stories to rebel against the old and
contribute to the new."
Further, Ya-jie Zang says that Kingston becomes the
woman warrior of the title by "challeng[ing] old and
new. This warrior, Kingston herself, is bold, daring and
rebellious. She reveals what should be kept secret in
the old world; at the same time, she points out how her
new life in the free world seems so uninteresting,
haunted by 'ghosts,' newsboys and garbage collectors.
She must use her own words as swords to avenge wrongs,
to fight, and to build."
As Kingston explores her own life, she also explores
that of her mother and her relationship to her mother
and to the Chinese culture from which her mother comes.
In the book, her mother, raised in the extreme
patriarchal culture of the Chinese, is something of a
warrior woman herself, having studied in a
Western-oriented school for midwives before she
immigrated.
Expect the format of this work to be different from
other works you have read, but enjoy!
Annette Van Dyke teaches multicultural women's
literature and women's spirituality at the University of
Illinois at Springfield.
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