Piscataway Domestic Violence Crisis Intervention Team

The Piscataway DVCIT has been in existence since 1995.  The CIT project is truly an innovative model for societal change in that it establishes a cooperative effort between abused women’s services, local municipal police departments, and community volunteers in an effort to provide services to victims of domestic violence and their children at the time of crisis.  CITs also provide immediate response to issues of dating violence.  Team members offer resources and referrals to victims while also helping to establish relationships with surrounding communities.

 

The goals of the CITs are to train community volunteers, provide assistance in the form of supportive counseling to battered women and their children or people in dating relationships, at the local police departments immediately following a domestic violence incident, when the victims are most upset, confused and vulnerable.

 

Our mission is 1) to provide comfort and support, referrals and resources, and emergency shelter for all victims of abuse in time of need; 2) to provide prevention and intervention of domestic violence through immediate response to victims and education of the community members.  Working as immediate response counselors with the police, we see first hand the impact domestic violence plays on victims and their families.  We believe that together we can make a difference in our community.

 

We also furnish information on the legal process, so that battered women may understand the various options available to them under the law, (restraining orders, criminal charges, mandatory arrest policies, etc.).  It is expected that persons making informed choices within the legal system will be less likely to drop orders of protection and more likely to follow through with subsequent proceedings since they will have positively opted to take action, rather than remain in an abusive relationship.  Our goal is that all victims are provided with current information concerning their legal rights as victims of abuse, including the special needs of immigrant women.

 

We act as advocates with the police for abused women, so that they may get the protection they are entitled to under the law.  We provide an extensive list of community resource referrals; so that they may get the help they need to eliminate violence from their lives.  It is hoped that women will be more likely to sue the services available if someone who has already been of assistance to them refers them.

 

Other goals include:  1) establish cooperative efforts between abused women’s services, local police departments and community volunteers, all of whom work to protect victims of domestic violence; 2) increase sensitivity of police, law enforcement officials, the judiciary, the court personnel to the needs of battered women and children;  3) strive to educate the community, including children and teenagers, that domestic violence is not all right and that we MUST speak out against it; 4) encourage Boards of Education to incorporate in their school systems curriculum designed for all school-aged children on the danger of violence in the home; 5) send a message to abusers that the community will not tolerate domestic violence; 6) promote awareness of the violence against women and to work towards diminishing its occurrence through education, research and advocacy; 7) and to continue to train community volunteers to meet the challenge of eradicating the cycle of family abuse, which is such a serious and destructive force in our communities.

 

To establish some of these goals, team members have provided presentations to the counseling department of the board of education to inform them of the expertise of the CIT in matters related to domestic violence, including teaching materials for all age groups and teacher guidelines to help them identify children at risk.

In 2005, the Piscataway DVCIT brought a powerful and dramatic one-woman play depicting the devastating effects of relationship violence to their high school’s 10^th grade class.  The “Yellow Dress” has inspired discussion among the students on the early warning signs of abuse, understand the unique aspects of teen dating violence, learn how to help friends and family members, and know when to get adults involved.  This program has now become an annual event.

 

Community education is a large part of the CIT mission.  In an effort to raise awareness during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, the Piscataway DVCIT agreed to sponsor the Silent Witness Project.  This project began in Minnesota when a group of artists created an exhibit of life-sized silhouettes, each representing a murdered victim of domestic violence in their state.  The exhibit was displayed in many venues and was an effective means of illustrating the prevalence of violence against women.  As a member of the Middlesex County Coalition of Domestic Violence Teams, the Piscataway DVCIT helped to construct 22 life sized silhouettes representing victims from each of the 21 counties and one to commemorate all the other NJ women who have been killed as a result of domestic violence.  This Coalition was formed to focus the attention of NJ public officials, citizens, and law enforcement on the extent of domestic violence in our state.

 

Through the organizational efforts of the Piscataway DVCIT, the silhouettes have been on display in the student centers of the Rutgers University campuses in New Brunswick and Piscataway during National DV Awareness Month.  In addition, the Piscataway DVCIT provided a Silent Witness exhibit, including silhouettes, for their library and for a display in their municipal building.  Three of the silhouettes, including one male, represent victims from Piscataway.

 

The Piscataway DVCIT initiated a scholarship fund financed in part through their cell phone recycling program and proceeds generated through their annual Comedy Night Gift Basket Raffle.  Each year the Piscataway DVCIT awards $1,000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors who have “Against All Odds” overcome unusual and extenuating circumstances, have remained in school, maintained passing grades, and who have been accepted into an institution of higher education.  Over $20,000 in scholarships have been awarded to date.

 

DVCIT members come from all walks of life – they are paraprofessionals in the field of emergency response; social workers, attorneys, psychologists, school teachers,  school counselors, administrative assistants, office managers, therapists, mental health counselors, corporate executives to students, women and men.  They are volunteers who have completed a state-mandated 40-hour curriculum, plus 10 hours of individual counseling time prior to becoming certified Domestic Violence Counselors.