Abuse Victims and Their Pets: Part 3 of 3: What Advocates Can Do

Part 1 of this 3-part series showed the connection between domestic abuse and animal abuse and that for abuse victims, finding a safe haven for their pets can be instrumental in seeking sanctuary for themselves. Part 2 addressed steps the target of abuse can take to best protect pets when looking to escape violence. Part 3 offers recommendations for steps advocates can take on behalf of abuse victims and their pets in creating safety for both.

When Allie Phillips served as an assistant prosecutor in the 1990s, she witnessed first-hand the number of abused women who would not go through with charges against their batterer nor leave violent situations due to fears that retaliation would result in harm to their pets. In 2008 when Allie Phillips was the director of public policy for American Humane, she created the Pets and Women's Shelters Program (PAWS). The program offered a manual of guidelines to help family violence centers provide safe housing for pets, with the ultimate goal of enabling more domestic violence victims to leave abusive households without leaving their pets behind and at risk.

When the program began in 2008, only four family violence shelters were known to provide on-site housing for pets. Currently, approximately 60 shelters provide on-site housing, and the program continues to grow. But with 2,500 domestic violence shelters across the country, more needs to be done to keep families with pets safe. The PAWS guide is a beginning for any advocate to transform a shelter to house family pets on-site.

Other steps advocates and those who work directly with abuse victims can take to help battered women with pets:

• Donate to organizations that help victims of abuse find safety for themselves and their pets.
• Add questions about the presence of pets and their welfare to shelter intake questionnaires and risk assessments.
• Work with animal shelters, veterinarians, and rescue groups to establish “safe haven” foster care programs for the animal victims of domestic violence.
• Include provisions for pets in safety planning strategies.
• Help abuse victims prove ownership of their animals. (See  Part 2 of this series in which victims are encouraged to license their pets in their own names to this end.)
• Help victims to retrieve animals left behind.
• Include animals in abuse prevention orders.
• Help victims find pet-friendly transitional and permanent housing.
• When victims can no longer care for their pets, make referrals to animal adoption agencies.
• Establish community coalitions against family violence that include humane societies, SPCAs, animal control agencies, and veterinarians.
• Invite representatives from these agencies to train your staff on how animal abuse cases are investigated and prosecuted: offer to train their staffs and volunteers about domestic violence issues.