An update from Sanctuary for Families regarding COVID-19

Hon. Judy H. Kluger

How we’re supporting survivors and staff during this public health crisis.

Dear Sanctuary Community,

As the coronavirus spreads and fear increases, I wanted to share how we, at Sanctuary for Families, are approaching this crisis. This blog will be updated as the situation in New York evolves and our programs adapt.

COVID-19 impacts all of us but for victims of gender-based violence, the effects are compounded by the numerous challenges they already face.

  • Calls to self-quarantine may deter victims from seeking help, compelling them to cope at a time when stress levels are heightened.
  • Economic stress due to layoffs and lack of work elevates the risk of domestic violence
  • School closings are forcing many of our clients who are parents to secure childcare so they can continue to work, often for employers in the service-sector who offer little flexibility or sick time.
  • Immigrant survivors, who are already reluctant to access public services for fear of deportation, may avoid reporting symptoms or visiting Urgent Care. Those from countries with higher rates of infection may also experience more discrimination.
  • Families living in shelter or over-crowded apartment complexes with more shared spaces are having a harder time with social distancing.

Our clinical, shelter, economic empowerment, and legal services are critical for survivors, and Sanctuary is committed to ensuring they continue to have the access they need.

Program Updates

General

  • The health and safety of our clients and staff are our top priority.
  • In the interest of public health and safety, all staff whose job responsibilities allow are working remotely.
  • Program staff throughout the agency are reaching out to clients and providing services remotely, including counseling and legal assistance.
  • Our main office, shelters, and the EMPOWER Center remain open with limited staff.
  • Our hotlines have expanded hours, 9am – 5pm Monday through Friday.
  • The Family Justice Centers are closed but continue to refer survivors seeking help to Sanctuary and other NYC providers.

Counseling

  • Counselors, case managers and support staff are reaching out to all clients on their caseload to offer phone sessions.
  • Counselors are offering traditional counseling sessions through a HIPPA compliant tele-counseling platform to clients interested and able to participate.
  • Counselors are also offering more frequent phone check-ins to assess how survivors are coping with the pandemic.
  • Staff are safety planning with high risk clients and are in contact with our residential team to ensure we are up to date on shelter vacancies as emergencies arise.

Shelter

  • We are following the City’s guidelines for shelters.
  • Staff continue to go in person to the dwellings to meet with clients and address important case management needs like referrals for public assistance, completion of housing applications, legal referrals etc.
  • Face masks are being distributed, food is being stockpiled, and our operations team is cleaning frequently.
  • Our childcare and after-care staff are working with parents to engage their children who are out of school.

Economic Empowerment Program (EEP)

  • Survivors in the current EEP cohort are receiving laptops and hotspots so they can continue their training remotely.
  • Staff are providing crisis intervention services and are safety planning with high risk clients.
  • Staff are checking in on survivors in internships, if they’re able to work remotely, and those who been placed in jobs to ensure they are being supported.

Legal

  • All temporary orders of protection that have been issued by criminal and civil courts have been extended until the next court date.
  • Emergency Family Court hearings are being held virtually as of Thursday, March 26.
  • Eviction proceedings and all pending eviction orders have been suspended.
  • New York City’s immigration Courts remain open and filing deadlines for detained and non-detained cases remain in place.
    • Attorneys are struggling to put filings together remotely and are risking exposure by going to the post office or appearing in court.
    • USCIS has temporarily suspended routine in-person services, at least through May 3.

Our team is closely monitoring the virus’ spread and is developing contingency plans to protect staff and clients should the situation in New York continue to escalate.

We are also taking measures to minimize contact within our broader Sanctuary community. At this time, we are refraining from on-boarding new volunteers and accepting in-kind donations.

How You Can Help

Donate

If you would like to support survivors during this challenging time, please consider a making a donation to general donation page or our Fund for Vulnerable Families.

Your support will cover the cost of:

  • Basic hygiene items and help us meet the emerging needs of our clients
  • Food for our shelters and survivors who are struggling to cover the costs of stockpiling essentials
  • Remote learning platforms, laptops, and wifi hotspots for survivors
  • Video conferencing tools for our service providing staff
  • Deep cleanings which will help us protect our staff and clients

Help Spread the Word

Visit our COVID-19 Resources & Information page

We’d also appreciate any resources you see that may be of use to survivors of domestic violence, trafficking, and related forms of gender-violence. Email Info@sffny.org or tag us on social media!

We Couldn’t Do This Without You

Thanks to people like you, Sanctuary has consistently supported survivors in times of crisis throughout our 35-year history. We are confident that this will be no different. By staying vigilant, taking the necessary precautions, and supporting each other, we will get through this together.

Wishing you and your loved ones health and safety.

Warmly,

Hon. Judy H. Kluger
Executive Director

NY Must Do More for People in Prostitution, but Full Decriminalization Is Not The Answer

Hon. Judy H. Kluger

Our statement regarding the recently-introduced bill aimed at fully decriminalizing the sex industry in New York.

As service providers, advocates, and survivor leaders, we believe that people bought and sold in the sex trade should not be arrested, prosecuted, or criminalized. Though Senator Salazar’s and Assembly Member Gottfried’s bill (S.6419/A.8230) does decriminalize prostitution for victims of the sex trade, it also decriminalizes the most heinous and exploitative elements of this industry: sex buying and pimping. For this reason, Sanctuary for Families strongly opposes this bill. We urge legislators and advocates to dig deeper before supporting legislation that will promote pimping, sex buying, and the expansion of the sex industry.

Prostitution causes severe long term psychological and physical harm. An estimated 90% of people in prostitution in the United States are trafficked. Decriminalizing the system of prostitution would, in effect, sanction human trafficking because it would decriminalize all components of the sex trade. It would render illegal businesses, currently run by organized crime, legal. Brothel and illicit massage parlor owners would be deemed bonafide business owners or managers, and the profits they make off the sale of the bodies of women, children, the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups would be legitimized.

We are better than this. We must ensure victims are protected, but cannot do so while extending the same protections to sex traffickers. Unfortunately, this bill does not take this nuanced approach, and it, therefore, should not become law in New York.

Warmly,

Hon. Judy H. Kluger
Executive Director, Sanctuary for Families

New York State moves to protect survivors of cyber sexual abuse

Hon. Judy H. Kluger

This legislation will go a long way to help survivors like our client Nathaly pursue justice against abusive partners who seek to humiliate, harass, and coerce their victims. 

Today, landmark legislation was unanimously passed in the New York State Legislature to criminalize the non-consensual dissemination of sexually explicit images and videos, commonly known as “revenge porn” or “cyber sexual abuse.” This legislation will go a long way to help survivors like our client Nathaly pursue justice against abusive partners who seek to humiliate, harass, and coerce their victims.

When Nathaly first ran into Sanctuary staff attorney Lindsey Song at the Bronx Family Court House, she was anxious and distraught. A former boyfriend she had dated as a teenager had recently sent her a link to a porn website with a video of the two of them having sex – a video she did not know even existed. The link included her full name, where she was from, and her father’s phone number. This was in 2017, before she helped New York City pass a law criminalizing cyber sexual abuse and before any legal remedies existed for victims like herself.

Today, thanks to Nathaly’s courageous advocacy in partnership with Sanctuary and the work of Assembly Member Edward Braunstein, Senator Monica Martinez, and numerous advocates and other survivors, New York joined 42 other states that have passed legislation to protect victims of cyber sexual abuse and recognized the terrible magnitude of harm that it inflicts upon victims.

Watch Nathaly’s speech from our annual benefit last year >

At Sanctuary, we see the devastating damage that cyber sexual abuse causes its victims. Survivors are often forced to change their names and flee the state to escape the horror of having their most intimate photos go viral; others have been threatened with sexual and physical violence when their photos have been posted, and many have lost their jobs, families, or communities as a result of this abuse.

Should this legislation be signed into law, it will be a crime to share an explicit image without a person’s consent when done so with the intention of causing emotional, financial, or physical harm. In addition to criminal relief, survivors will also be able to seek justice and protection through both Family and Criminal Courts, as well as secure injunctive relief if a website refuses to take action in removing the videos or images in question.

In late 2017, Nathaly and Sanctuary helped pass New York City’s cyber sexual abuse bill which is being used every day. Today we celebrate their work and the work of others in the passage of a New York State bill which will provide many more survivors like Nathaly with the legal recourse to seek relief from the flood of online harassment that they have long been denied. We hope that the Governor will act quickly to sign this measure into law.

Gender Violence Survivors Seeking Asylum Need Our Protection

Hon. Judy H. Kluger

Last week, President Trump addressed the nation to warn of “a growing humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border.” His administration’s rhetoric and immigration policies are endangering the lives of survivors of gender violence. Read our statement.

On Tuesday night, President Trump used his address to the nation to argue for a border wall that he says will make our nation safer. Sanctuary for Families believes that the President’s statement failed to address the deep-rooted issues in our immigration system and instead, focused on policies that would further harm and endanger refugees and other vulnerable immigrants, including survivors of gender-based violence.

At Sanctuary, we work with gender violence survivors, 70% of whom are immigrants. Many are seeking asylum due to extreme intimate partner violence, female genital mutilation (FGM), and/or death threats they experienced in their home countries. Some have been tricked or forced into the U.S. by traffickers. Some come directly to New York. Others have been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border, itself dangerous and re-traumatizing, and eventually, make it to New York where organizations like Sanctuary can help.

For those currently stuck on the Mexican side of the border, however, the consequences can be deadly. Due to the Administration’s new metering system, thousands of adults and children, most of whom are seeking asylum, will have to wait weeks, even months, before making their plea for protection in the U.S. Sleeping on streets or in over-crowded migrant shelters, their desperation and fear only increase, and they become more vulnerable to the kind of violence they fled in the first place.

To be clear, seeking asylum at any of our borders is not illegal. Turning asylum seekers away, however, is a cruel violation of international law. We need policies that protect survivors of gender violence seeking refuge within our borders and provide clear pathways to legal status, not ones that scapegoat immigrant communities and use their lives as political tools. To these ends, Sanctuary is taking action.

Every day, Sanctuary provides free high-quality legal representation to ensure that immigrant gender violence survivors receive the committed advocacy they need to present their best case for immigration status. Here in New York, we advocate for State legislation to better protect our immigrant communities and deepen our partnerships with fellow immigration agencies. Across the country, we partner with advocates to push for a functional immigration system and rational border policy.

For over 30 years, Sanctuary has served survivors of gender violence regardless of immigration status. As we enter the New Year, we reaffirm our long-held commitment to our immigrant communities both here in New York and across the border. Thank you for standing with us.

Warmly,

Hon. Judy H. Kluger
Executive Director, Sanctuary for Families