PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Legal Aid Society provides free legal advice and assistance to survivors of domestic violence. To see if you are eligible for Legal Aid help, please call (650) 558-0915.

The New Beginnings Program provides free, extensive legal services to low-income women and teens who are survivors of domestic violence. We help with the following:

• Family law cases including obtaining restraining orders, child custody, visitation, and child support orders as well as divorce and paternity
• Legal assistance for domestic violence survivors having non-family law problems including housing, government benefits, education, and access to health care

Legal Aid understands that a woman who has just left her abuser needs more than a temporary restraining order. Without adequate housing, income, job skills, and health care, women frequently feel forced into returning to their abusers, causing the cycle of violence to begin again.

Legal Aid helps women address these long-term problems, aiming to help domestic violence survivors establish safe, healthy lives for themselves and their children. For example, many women and teens leaving abusive relationships need financial help including government benefits to establish new households apart from their abusers; sometimes abusers try to regain control by blocking access to benefits or making false reports of welfare fraud. Other times, abusers may run up credit cards or engage in custody litigation to intimidate women into returning to the relationship. Legal Aid tries to help survivors navigate these problems so they are not coerced into returning to abusive relationships in fear of becoming homeless or losing custody of children.

Read Geri’s story to learn how Legal Aid helped her secure a new life for her family, away from her abusive boyfriend.