Be Safe In Your Home

04.09.20

For obvious reasons, I have been reading many articles recently on how the family law practice is and will be affected by the coronavirus pandemic. I assumed that after a while, with people stuck in their homes for a seemingly unending period of time, there would be a surge in, first, protection from abuse filings and, second, in divorces.

I was, therefore, surprised to read an article in my local newspaper that local police departments were expecting an increase in domestic calls as well; however, that has not been the case. It appears that police calls for domestic violence are about the same as they were at the same time last year. I read an article in a national news publication that said the same thing, citing statistics from France as well as the United States. The most interesting point in the section concerning France is the theory that while police calls may be down;, acts of domestic violence are up. The victims are just not seeking police intervention. The article went on to say that abusers are so domineering of their victims that the victims cannot make a call to the police or get on a domestic violence website without fear of further abuse.
I want all of you to be safe, not only from the evils of COVID-19 lurking outside your
home but also from the evils that may be living in the house with you. While the courts are
closed to most everyday business, they are certainly open to victims of domestic violence so that a party can obtain a protection from abuse order.
Additionally, all of the domestic violence hotlines and websites in the Philadelphia area
are up and running.

For Bucks County this would be A Woman’s Place (awomansplace.org, 1-800-220-
8116); for Chester County, The Domestic Violence Center of Chester County (dvcccpa.org, 1-
888-711-6270, 610-431-1430); for Delaware County, The Domestic Abuse Project (dapdc.org,
610-565-4590); for Montgomery County, Laurel House (laurel-house.org, 1-800-642-3150); and
for Philadelphia, Women Against Abuse (womenagainstabuse.org, 1-866-723-3014).
Also, while some of these organizations have “woman” in their names, domestic violence
works both ways. Any of these organizations offer assistance to a man or person in a same-sex
relationship with an abusive partner.

Media Contact

Valerie Lyons
Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer
T: 267.765.4124
vlyons@wglaw.com

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