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Using Safety Plans for Escape |
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Copyright ® 2000
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Finances and Housing
Victim’s
Compensation
Claims for financial compensation for
“out of pocket” expenses Transitional
Assistance
In Massachusetts people who were on what was called
welfare are now on what is called Transitional
Assistance (DTA).
These individuals can remain on DTA for two years and
then they are required to get a job.
Therefore, if they do not get a job, these
women and their children will be without funds to
support themselves. Hopefully it will not take many
deaths of both wives and their husbands before we
realize what a serious problem this is.
We all pray that women may become financially
independent for than their abusers. Undocumented
battered women and their children can self-petition
permanent residence status at the Department of
Immigration without the help of the abusive spouse or
parent. FINANCIAL
SUPPORT
The `Department of Revenue has become increasingly
interested in parents who batterer and don’t pay
child support.
Also, Congress authorized each state to grant waivers
of certain welfare rules when mothers are at risk from
domestic violence.
The Massachusetts Department Transitional
Assistance (DTA) implemented the Family Violence
Option, providing for waivers of certain welfare rules
for survivors of domestic violence.
Therefore, rules regarding work, etc. are not
implemented in the same way for battered mothers.
Mothers with dependent children, disabled adults and
others may also be eligible for food stamps. This is
provided with an electronic benefits card and a
personal number.
If your disability does not allow you to get around
easily, you may need to authorize a representative to
handle your benefits card and pin number to go
shopping for you.
If your batterer has access to your card and pin
number, change both as soon as you get to a safe
place. You may want to begin this change by first
contacting the “Help line” that has been provided
to you or by calling the Electronics Benefits Transfer
Manager. If that does not work, call the Massachusetts
Law Reform Institute at 617-357-0700. You may also
want to call the Division of Hearings, Department of
Transitional Assistance at 1-800-882-2017 or write to
PO Box 167 Boston, MA 02111 if you have problems with
Transitional Assistance. Call
Boston Legal Services at 1-617-1234
ext.300 Or
call 1-800-323-3205 at 197
Friend Street Boston,
MA 02114. You
should apply to as Many Housing Assistance Programs as
Possible
(See Housing Section under Resources for phone numbers
for applications or to find out how far you are from
coming up on the list.) 1.
Section
8 certificates and vouchers 2.
Project Based Section 8 Developments 3.Federal
and State Public Housing 4.Massachusetts
Housing Finance Agency Properties “You
only have as much rights as you take and advocates are
there to help battered women take their rights.”1 1. Public Speaker, Barbara Zimbel ESQ., of greater Boston
Legal Services
at the
“Assisting Crime Victims With Housing”
Conference February 6, 1998 Survivors
of Domestic Violence with Transitional Assistance Have
Exemption From Work
What Requirements Can Be Waived Receiving or Applying
for TAFD When You
Have Been Abused? Receive the following
Waivers at the Department of Transitional
Assistance Office.
the work program requirement
the family cap
the
time limit
Also domestic violence can effect some of the other
requirements of DTA such as child support, employment
development, children’s school attendance,
immunization, and teen parent school attendance. Emergency Aid for
Elders,
People
with Disabilities and Children (EAEDC)
This is a state funded medical assistance program for
families and individuals who are not receiving
transitional assistance, Supplemental Security income
(SSI) or other public benefits. Call
1-800-841-2900 to find out
where your local office is. For more
information call 1-800-445-6604 or
1-800-249 2007 Call: Greater
Boston Legal Services
at 1-617-371-1234
ext.300 or
call 1-800-323-3205
at 197
Friend Street Boston,
MA 02114. Reasonable
Accommodation s
“The office of the housing agency must be
physically accessible.
If the applicant is unable to travel to the
housing agency for an application or an interview, the
agency must accommodate the applicant.
If,
as a result of the applicant’s disability, he/she
fails to respond to a request by the housing agency
for information or interview, and the information was
rejected or purged from the waiting list as a result,
the housing agency must take action to accommodate the
applicant.”1 1.
Assisting Crime Victims with Housing Needs2/6/98
Massachusetts Office of Victim Furniture
for Your New Home (Sanctuary)
Most battered women have left everything behind and
have had to start over again with nothing except their
lives free from abuse. That is a trade off
because it is a better life than they ever had
with the abuser. Battered women have access to
as much furniture as they will ever
need and it
is for free or for very little cost.
Look under Chapter one Resources for listings for
furniture. New
Home Without Abuse
Keep safe by always covering your tracks and never let mean people into your life.
There is no sure way to know if a new relationship
will become a battering
relationship. You can
learn some of the early warning signs of abuse
so you don’t let abusers into your home and your
life. For instance,
if abusers telegraphed
that they were mean, no one would get involved with
them. So they hide it.
If your new friend has a low threshold for
frustration, and punches the wall when he or she
becomes angry, this person has the capacity to be
violent. If they are quick to change temper suddenly.
If they are controlling or jealous.
Get some references. Meet their family and
their friends. Meet those who are former partners.
Some women, who can afford it, hire a private
detective to run a background check on someone they
date. Ask if they are willing to agree to leave for
one hour if you both get involved in a heated
disagreement.
It is always better to have seen the sign posts
of violence early in the relationship before you let
your friend know where you live.
Start out with small boundary lines like
never allow a new friend to put their
toothbrush in your home without your permission. If anyone tells you they love you but wants to change
everything about you, perhaps you should
not let
the relationship develop further. After all, you are
fantastic just the way you are!
Never allow a new friend or an old friend
take advantage of you.
If you have a choice between
no relationship and a bad relationship, pick
no relationship. You will never be alone
because you will always have an affinity with battered
women all over the world in the Battered Women’s
Movement. Answers
for Service Provider's who have Questions
about Accessibility for People Who Have
Disabilities
The Disability Law Center, Inc. of Boston wrote a
handbook in 1995 and updated it in 1997 that was
designed to provide MASSACHUSETTS BATTERD WOMEN'S
SHELTERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS with the legal
information they need to serve women and children with
disabilities. Their
handbook is called Serving Women and Children with Disabilities.
Among many
useful topics, this handbook listed a number of
questions that service providers often ask and they
also answered many of their questions.
Two
answers for the
provider's questions are: Answers about screening criteria
"The basic rule is that a providers may not
impose eligibility criteria for participants in its
programs or services that screen out persons with
disabilities…The laws treat illegal drug use
differently from alcohol use, since alcohol is a legal
substance…It is not appropriate to ask as part of a
screening process if a potential shelter guest takes
medication if it will be used to screen out a client. Answers
regarding access
Providers are required to make reasonable
modifications in rules, policies and practices where
necessary to accommodate a woman or child with a
disability.
Every request for an accommodation must be considered
under circumstances that exist at the time. Shelter
providers are not required to make accommodations that
would create an undue burden or fundamentally alter
the nature of the program or services being offered…
it is good practice to inform shelter guests and
participants in programs offered by the provider that
accommodations to disabilities will be made if
requested." |