If you work for the Department of Humans Services (DHS) as a case manager or supervisor. There are some helpful things to note:

  • While QVSPs are not mandated reporters, this does not mean we ‘allow’ harm to continue. We are experts at safety planning and harm reduction to promote the safety and well-being of the family.
  • We work closely alongside the survivor (and their children or dependents), and we can do co-advocacy with DHS or any other provider, as long as the survivor wants us to, and they give us very specific details on what information we can share and what areas of their case plan we can support with in tandem with DHS.
  • Some DHS locations may have co-located Domestic Violence Advocates. If your branch does, they are a great resource and can help with understanding the dynamics of domestic violence and how that may or may not be showing up for your clients.

It is also important to note if you reach out to Home Free or another QVSP and ask them to call a survivor – that’s something we do not do because we don’t know if the survivor truly wants us to call them, and it may not be safe for the survivor. It’s best to ask the survivor to reach out to us directly, or you and the survivor can call us together. At that point, we can work and speak directly to the survivor and can safety plan and explore options and resources from there.