Lakeshore Legal Aid

Sections on this page:

Domestic Violence
Frequently Asked Questions
Resources & Brochures
Online Resource Guide

Contact Information:

Lakeshore Legal Aid
21885 Dunham Road Suite 4
Clinton Twp., MI 48036
 
Clients: (888) 783-8190
Office: (586) 469-5907

Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault

CAUTION! Please be aware that the websites you visit are often stored in your computer's memory. The next time you open your browser, websites you last visited may show up. If you share a computer with your abuser, s/he may be able to review the sites you have visited. The safest way to search for information on the Internet is at a local library, public school, friend's house, or office location.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The information provided within this website is not intended to be legal advice and visitors to this website should not act upon this information without consulting with legal counsel.
  

Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault

Lakeshore Legal Aid and its project partners were recently awarded a grant by the Department of Justice to offer legal assistance to domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in Michigan.

Under this grant, Lakeshore Legal Aid will work in partnership with domestic and sexual violence service providers to provide culturally competent, linguistically accessible legal assistance to survivors. This representation will provide a catalyst to hold the perpetrator accountable while at the same time giving the survivor a full range of legal remedies to ensure her long-term safety; e.g., personal protection orders, safe custody and parenting time orders, immigration assistance and public benefits advocacy.

Under this grant, Lakeshore Legal Aid will be providing direct representation and advocacy in Huron, Macomb, Sanilac, St. Clair and Tuscola Counties. Lakeshore will collaborate with our project partners (please see section below) in these counties in order to implement a holistic service model in which all of the civil legal needs of the survivor will be addressed in order to craft a legal remedy specific to the unique needs of the survivor.

Lakeshore embraces the "Duluth Model" of Coordinated Community Response and recognizes that systemic gaps jeopardize victim safety and empowerment. While the "Duluth Model" emphasizes criminal intervention, Lakeshore will seek to make civil legal assistance an integral part of each county's coordinating body. (For further information on the "Duluth Model" of Coordinated Community Response please see Coordinated Community Response.
 

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are our project partners?

Human Development Commission/Thumb Area Assault Crisis Center
Mission is to empower individuals and communities to identify their needs and secure the resources necessary to achieve their goals of self-sufficiency and an improved quality of life. (Huron, Tuscola and Sanilac Counties)

Safe Horizons (St. Clair County)

Safe Horizons offers shelter and support services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and/or homelessness. The services and support programs are delivered to the community in a variety of formats ranging from shelter and housing to support groups and legal assistance.

Turning Point, Inc. (Macomb County)
Turning Point's mission is to provide programs and resources that enable victims/survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and homelessness to regain control of their lives.

What is domestic violence?

"Domestic violence" is violence that typically occurs at home between people who:

  • are currently, or have been, married,
  • are currently in, or have been in, a significant relationship,
  • currently live, or have lived, together or are related by blood.

Although the violence is often in the form of physical injury, it may also be in the form of threats, isolation, emotional mistreatment, verbal abuse, or forced sex. Domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behaviors perpetrated by one person over his/her intimate partner in an effort to maintain power and control over that person.
 

What services does Lakeshore Legal Aid offer?

Lakeshore Legal Aid offers a range of holistic legal services to survivors of domestic violence or sexual assault. We may be able to help you file for a personal protection order, divorce and/or custody of your children depending upon your legal needs. We can advocate on your behalf with FIA if you are in need of public assistance. If you have immigration concerns, questions or are in need of assistance in filing an immigrant petition based on your status as a domestic violence or sexual assault survivor, Lakeshore Legal Aid is there to help. If you are in need of housing or are having problems with your landlord, please contact us. These are just examples of the ways in which we can potentially work with you in resolving your legal and safety concerns.

Please contact the Counsel and Advocacy Law Line of Lakeshore Legal Aid if you are in need of legal assistance at 1-888-783-8190. Please be sure to always provide a safe number where you can be contacted. Perpetrators often track calls made and/or received on home and cell phones. Please call us from a safe location if you have questions and/or concerns regarding your legal case. Depending upon your unique situation, we may also be able to provide in-person intake at Safe Horizons, Turning Point and the Thumb Area Assault Crisis Center.

My FIA Benefits have Changed, Now What?

Resources & Brochures

Please see our educational flyers/brochures on the following topics.

English

Albanian

Arabic

Bosnian

Spanish

Urdu

Online Resource Guide

Please note Lakeshore Legal Aid has not reviewed the contents of the following web sites for accuracy. The following links are not intended to serve as legal advice and visitors to this website should not act upon this information without consulting with legal counsel.

Descriptions of the following websites have been quoted from the organization's mission statement, vision and/or profile/history detailed in its web listing.

If you would like your web address included in the listing below or have other comments regarding our website, please contact Lakeshore Legal Aid at sstubbs@mlan.net and include the phrase "Web Link" in the subject line of your e-mail.
 

Resource Center on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault

National Organizations

American Bar Association - Commission on Domestic Violence

Battered Women's Justice Project
The mission of the Battered Women's Justice Project is to promote systemic change within community organizations and governmental agencies engaged in the civil and criminal justice response to domestic violence that creates true institutional accountability to the goal of ensuring safety for battered women and their families. To this end, BWJP undertakes projects on the local, state, national, and international levels.

FaithTrust Institute
FaithTrust Institute (formerly the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. Founded in 1977 by the Rev. Marie M. Fortune, FaithTrust Institute is an interreligious educational resource addressing issues of sexual and domestic violence. Our goal is to engage religious leaders in the task of ending abuse, and to serve as a bridge between religious and secular communities.

Family Violence Prevention Fund (con materiales en español)

Legal Momentum
Legal Momentum advances the rights of women and girls by using the power of the law and creating innovative public policy.

Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse
The mission of the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA) is to support research, education, and access to violence related resources.

National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence
The National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence (NCDSV) designs, provides, and customizes training and consultation, influences policy, promotes collaboration and enhances diversity with the goal of ending domestic and sexual violence.

National Center on Elder Abuse
The National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA), funded by the U.S. Administration on Aging, is a gateway to resources on elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

National Coalition against Domestic Violence
The Mission of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is to organize for collective power by advancing transformative work, thinking and leadership of communities and individuals working to end the violence in our lives.
 

Resource Center on Domestic Violence: Child Protection & Custody

National Organizations

National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges
The mission of the Resource Center on Domestic Violence: Child Protection and Custody is to provide access to the best possible source of information and tangible assistance to those working in the field of domestic violence and child protection and custody. The resource center will chart a future in which child protection and custody cases involving family violence are handled in a manner which recognizes the complexity of the legal, cultural, and psychological dynamics and provides protection and relief for all victims in the family.

National Center for Victims of Crime
The mission of the National Center for Victims of Crime is to forge a national commitment to help victims of crime rebuild their lives. We are dedicated to serving individuals, families, and communities harmed by crime.

National Domestic Violence Hotline

National Network to End Domestic Violence
The National Network to End Domestic Violence, a social change organization representing state domestic violence coalitions, is dedicated to creating a social, political and economic environment in which violence against women no longer exists.

National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV) was founded in 1993 as a key component in a national network of domestic violence resources. The NRCDV provides support to all organizations and individuals working to end violence in the lives of victims and their children through technical assistance, training and information on response to and prevention of domestic violence.

National Sexual Violence Resource Center
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) is a comprehensive collection and distribution center for information, statistics, and resources related to sexual violence. It serves as a resource for state, territory, and tribal anti-sexual assault coalitions, rape crisis centers, allied organizations, community projects, policy-makers, government entities, media, educators, health care providers and others working to address and eliminate sexual assault.

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) is the nation's largest anti-sexual assault organization. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1.800.656.HOPE and carries out programs to prevent sexual assault, help victims and ensure that rapists are brought to justice. Inside, you'll find statistics, counseling resources, prevention tips, news and more.

Rural Womyn Zone

Stop Family Violence

Violence Against Women Network Library
VAWnet Library is an online resource for advocates working to end domestic violence, sexual assault, and other violence in the lives of women and their children.
 

Michigan Links

Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
MCADSV is a statewide membership organization whose members represent a network of over 70 domestic and sexual violence programs and over 200 allied organizations and individuals. We have provided leadership as the statewide voice for survivors of domestic and sexual violence and the programs that serve them since 1979.

Safe House
Domestic Violence Project, Inc./SAFE House is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending domestic violence and sexual assault in Washtenaw County, Michigan. SAFE House provides free and confidential services for any person victimized that lives or works in Washtenaw County. Our programs include counseling, court accompaniment, information and referrals, emergency shelter and personal advocacy. We offer these, and other services, through the Non-Residential Program, Legal Advocacy, Children and Youth Services and Shelter.

University of Michigan - The Project for Research on Welfare, Work & Domestic Violence
The joint Project for Research on Welfare, Work, and Domestic Violence seeks to foster collaboration among researchers, policy makers, and community organizations which are concerned with the nexus of welfare and domestic violence issues. The Project provides national coordination of research and public education on the relationship of domestic violence to poverty and welfare use.

Women's Survival Center of Oakland County
The Women's Survival Center of Oakland County (WSC) is about women and families, for women and families and by women and families. Although the majority of the women we serve are low income and the crisis presented often involves domestic violence, WSC is committed to meeting the needs of women and families in crisis, regardless of income or the issue presented.
 

Judicial Links

Michigan Courts Domestic Violence Benchbook

Michigan Courts Sexual Assault Benchbook
 

Other Legal Links from around the United States

Domestic Violence Institute (Massachusetts)
The Domestic Violence Institute at Northeastern University School of Law is an education, service and research organization dedicated to combating partner abuse. It educates professionals in a variety of disciplines about violent relationships and about interventions that can make women and their children safer from violence. It provides advocacy services to women in abusive relationships, both in court and in a variety of community locations where they first turn for help. It engages in research dedicated to understanding violent relationships, understanding the strategies women use to cope with violence, understanding how the legal system has contributed to the problems faced by women in abusive relationships, and exploring the effectiveness of legal and other interventions.

Women Empowered Against Violence (District of Columbia)
WEAVE's mission is to empower survivors of domestic violence so that they can free themselves safely from the cycle of abuse and obtain independence and self-sufficiency for themselves and their children. WEAVE provides emergency and long-term legal services, counseling, case management, economic empowerment, and teen dating violence education and services in Washington, D.C.
 

Resource Center on Cultural Competency and/or Issues Affecting Battered Immigrant Populations

National Advocacy

Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence
The Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence is a national network of advocates; community members; professionals from health, mental health, law, education, and social services; survivors; scholars; researchers; and activists from public policy, community organizations, youth programs, immigrants' rights networks, communities of color, women's groups, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender communities, and other social justice organizations. We serve as a forum for, and clearinghouse on information, research, resources and critical issues about violence against women in Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

Family Violence Prevention Fund - Immigrant Women Project (con materiales en español)

Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community
To provide an interdisciplinary vehicle and forum by which scholars, practitioners, and observers of family violence in the African American community will have the continual opportunity to articulate their perspectives on family violence through research findings, the examination of service delivery and intervention mechanisms, and the identification of appropriate and effective responses to prevent/reduce family violence in the African American community.

Legal Momentum - Immigrant Women Program
Legal Momentum recently launched the Immigrant Women Program (IWP) that strives to protect and expand the rights of immigrant women and their children. The overarching goal of the program is to enhance the legal rights and basic economic security of this traditionally underserved group. The program pursues policies on a broad scale to protect immigrant women who, as victims of domestic violence, "fall between the cracks" of both our legal safeguards and our welfare support systems. The initial focus of IWP is the creation of a legal, institutional, and policy framework that allows battered immigrant women to end the destructive role that domestic violence plays in their lives and allows all immigrant women to achieve economic self-sufficiency. The ultimate agenda of the program is to address from a women's rights perspective the larger complex of social and legal challenges faced by women who emigrate to the United States.

National Immigration Law Center
The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a national support center whose mission is to protect and promote the rights and opportunities of low income immigrants and their family members. NILC staff specialize in immigration law, and the employment and public benefits rights of immigrants. The Center conducts policy analysis and impact litigation and provides publications, technical advice, and trainings to a broad constituency of legal aid agencies, community groups, and pro bono attorneys.

National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild
The National Immigration Project is a progressive source of information and legal support on immigrant rights. We are one of the few national-level groups that specializes in defending the rights of immigrants facing incarceration and deportation. We also provide advanced-level assistance for immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault who are seeking legal status in the U.S.

National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic Violence (con materiales en español)
Alianza's mission is to: promote understanding, initiate and sustain dialogue, and generate solutions that move toward the elimination of domestic violence affecting Latino communities, with an understanding of the sacredness of all relations and communities.
 

Michigan Links

Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan - Battered Immigrant Project (con materiales en español)
The Battered Immigrant Project began in 2002 to advocate for and represent battered migrant farmworkers in Michigan on immigration issues. Beginning in September of 2004, the Battered Immigrant Project has expanded to serve ALL immigrants in the State of Michigan who are otherwise eligible in terms of income and other qualifications.
 

Additional Organizations/Model Projects throughout the United States

Asian Task Force against Domestic Violence (Massachusetts)
Since 1994, the Task Force has operated New England's only multilingual emergency shelter and services for Asian victims of domestic violence and their children. The shelter program has served as a model for programs in Massachusetts, throughout the U.S. and internationally.

Ayuda Inc. (con materiales en español)
Ayuda, "help" in Spanish, is a nonprofit, community-based legal and social service agency serving the low-income Latino and foreign-born community in the D.C. metropolitan area. Since its incorporation in 1973, it has become the District's leading source of bilingual legal assistance for this population in the areas of immigration, domestic violence and relations.

Sakhi for South Asian Women (New York)
Sakhi for South Asian Women is a community-based organization in the New York metropolitan area committed to ending the exploitation and violence against women of South Asian origin. Recognizing oppression based on class, immigration status, religion, and sexual orientation, we work to empower women, particularly survivors of domestic violence. Sakhi strives to create a voice and safe environment for all South Asian women through outreach, advocacy, leadership development, and organizing.

Women's Justice Center/Centro de Justicia Para Mujeres (California)
The core of our work at Women's Justice Center is advocating for victims of rape, domestic violence, and child abuse, especially in the Latina and other under served communities of Sonoma County.
 

Because Justice for Some is No Justice at All.

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Updated: 12/21/2006

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