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Responding to Domestic Violence
Survivors of domestic violence are not alone.
Domestic violence is a public health, law enforcement, legal system, child abuse and financial crisis. Those that experience domestic violence in Clackamas County have a variety of services available to them. These agencies and programs work together to decrease the trauma related to accessing services. In particular, the county is fortunate to have A Safe Place Family Justice Center available for survivors and their children.
The county employs a full-time Domestic Violence Systems Coordinator to provide support, coordination and consultation to the community response to domestic violence.
Domestic Violence Services in Clackamas County
Founded in 2013, A Safe Place Family Justice Center is based on best practices in the field of domestic violence. The Center provides a trauma-informed, coordinated and collaborative system to support survivors of family violence. Behind its doors, multiple organizations are available to respond to the needs of survivors, reducing the necessity of victims to seek services at multiple sites throughout the county.
Phone: 503-655-8600
256 Warner Milne Road
Oregon City map
Clackamas Women's Services (CWS) provides services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, dating violence, and stalking. CWS utilizes trauma-informed care, rapid re-housing, a confidential/emergency shelter that utilizes a unique Village Model approach, a Legal Empowerment Accelerator Program (LEAP).
Phone: 888-654-2288 (24-hour crisis and support line)
A Safe Place
256 Warner Milne Road
Oregon City map
Aculturally-specific (Latinx), trauma-informed home that provides free, temporary housing, case coordination and advocacy for women and minor children affected by domestic violence. Participants in the shelter work with an advocate to remove barriers to service, receive recovery support and develop a plan for their future including housing, employment and other needs.
Phone: 503-974-9882
6200 SE King Road
Portland map
UNICA is the domestic and sexual violence branch of El Program Hispano Catolico. UNICA's goal is to provide support, advocacy and opportunity for self-empowerment, enabling survivors to exercise free and informed life choices.
Phone: 503-232-4448 (24/7, Always free and confidential)
Gresham
Closed to walk-ins.
The mission of the Clackamas County District Attorney's Victim Assistance Program is to involve crime victims and the community in a process that helps to diminish the devastating impact of crime. Oregon Law assures that victims have rights in a criminal case; some rights are automatic while others have to be requested. The Victim Assistance Program uses staff as well as trained volunteers to meet the needs of crime victims.
Phone: 503-655-8616
707 Main St.
Suite 201
Oregon City map
Projects and Programs
The mission of the Clackamas County FVCC is to provide an interagency forum for developing, implementing, and assessing the coordinated response to domestic violence in Clackamas County. The FVCC is part of a county-wide effort to provide for the safety and well-being of survivors and accountability of offenders to reduce the incidence of domestic violence. The group meets monthly. Contact Sarah Van Dyke at svandyke@clackamas.us for more information.
Strangulation Response Initiative
A multi-disciplinary group of professionals focused on improving the identification and response to non-fatal strangulation in Clackamas County. The SRI has developed protocols and other tools to improve the detection, documentation and response to cases of domestic violence strangulation as well as increase the accountability of offenders. In addition to the protocols that will guide the work of responders, the continual education and training of law enforcement, dispatch, advocates, courts, medical personnel and others is a priority of the SRI.
- Strangulation can be lethal — unconsciousness can occur within seconds and death within minutes.
- Non-lethal strangulation carries with it serious physical and emotional consequences for the survivor.
- Upwards of 50% of domestic violence victims have also experienced strangulation.
- 70% of women in domestic violence shelters reporting being strangled.
- Strangulation is a strong predictor of future lethality for the victim.
Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team (DVFRT)
Reviewing domestic violence fatalities that occur in Clackamas County and making recommendations to prevent future domestic violence fatalities by:
- Improving communication between public and private organizations and agencies
- Determining the number of domestic violence fatalities occurring in the team's county and the factors associated with those fatalities
- Identifying ways in which community response might have intervened to prevent a fatality
- Providing accurate information about domestic violence to the community
- Generating recommendations for improving community response to and prevention of domestic violence
- Collecting and summarizing data to demonstrate the statistical occurrence of domestic violence fatalities
In order to close the gap between identification of the crime and vital medical assessment, the Oregon Strangulation Forensic Evidence Kit was developed by the Clackamas County Strangulation Initiative (SRI) in 2020.
This website is to support first responders, medical personnel, advocates, and communities currently participating in the program, as well as those interested in bringing SKITS to their jurisdictions.
