Domestic Abuse Legal Advocacy Center, PSC

Today and every day, domestic abuse victims leave their abuser even though doing so exponentially increases the possibility that the abuser will follow through on the repeated threat - death. This is not an exaggeration. Seventy-five percent (75%) of domestic violence related homicides occur upon separation. 

Domestic Abuse Legal Advocacy Center, PSC (DALAC) empowers our clients through legal advocacy in support of our mission to stop the cycle of domestic abuse through legal advocacy. 

Each year, DALAC provides free legal representation to more than 100 clients directly impacting the lives of 250 children. With the support of approximately 45 volunteer attorneys and law students, we empower clients by not only securing Orders for Protection (OFP) that keep them and their children safe and obtaining eviction expungements that allow them to obtain new housing, but also we empower our clients by validating their feelings, being non-judgmental, assuring them that domestic abuse is not their fault, being compassionate and affirming, and by providing them the power of legal knowledge and their legal options.

Trauma Informed Advocacy

Our organization is unique in the following ways:

• We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm.
• We are trauma-informed. We understand domestic abuse and its nuances and have the knowledge and skills to further minimize re-traumatization of our clients.
• We pay reasonable and necessary expenses (e.g., subpoena fees, service of process fees, transcripts, medical records, etc.) for the client’s case.
• We provide quality Continuing Legal Education (CLE) trainings to our attorneys on trial skills, trauma, cultural humility, mental illness awareness, etc.
• We provide training to the shelters’ advocates regarding best practices in applying for OFPs.
• We understand secondary trauma and the impact it has on our volunteers. We provide resources to our attorneys and the shelters’ advocates that we collaborate with on secondary trauma allowing them to maintain emotional stability and mental well-being.
  

Why Your Support Matters Now

Every day, people enduring domestic abuse face impossible choices. 

Imagine the fear of filing for a divorce when your abuser has told you repeatedly that if you did, you will never see your children again. You believe him. 

Now, imagine, after yet another violent beating, you tell your abuser you are leaving and taking the children. He tells you that he will kill you if you do so. You believe him. 

Now, imagine you are a child in a home where your mother is distracted by the pain of these decisions. 

Imagine you, the child, in perpetual terror not knowing when the violence will start again.

Now imagine the sorrow of watching your mother get hit, choked and beat up.

Imagine you try to intervene only to be the recipient of the abuser’s fury. The frustration of not being able to stop it. The guilt that you made the situation worse. 

Our clients do not have to imagine. They and their children live it. When you support this work, you are helping create a future where more children grow up safe, supported, and free from abuse.

Your Gift Makes an Immediate Impact

10 years of transforming lives through trauma-informed legal advocacy. Thank you for being part of this transformational work. We need your support so we can continue to do this important work.