The West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WVCADV), incorporated in 1981, is a statewide non-profit organization comprised of the Coalition’s Statewide Office and 14 licensed domestic violence programs. WVCADV is the only statewide network of domestic violence service providers and experts that provide specialized direct services for families, training, education, and policy development in West Virginia.
The Coalition and the 14 licensed programs advocate to empower victims of domestic violence and improve systems influencing family safety. Advocacy within systems that respond to victims of domestic violence includes training, policy development, collaborating, and networking to examine and improve responses by systems to improve safety. Advocacy for individual survivors of domestic violence includes education about options, safety planning and resource/referral services to create safer environments for individual families.
WVCADV provides advocacy through leading a variety of collaborative projects, as well as via representation on collaborations led by other agencies. Collaborations include partnerships with healthcare, mental health, law enforcement, corrections, courts, legal services, child & adult protection, education, prosecution, victim services, marginalized communities, and social services agencies.
WVCADV representatives also participate with national organizations and bring updated research to system development, and cutting edge issues and model initiatives to state and local collaboratives. The state office facilitates networking and coordination of services for the 14 licensed domestic programs and collaborative partners.
Local domestic violence programs are a vital resource, providing free and confidential assistance to victims of domestic violence and their children. Domestic violence advocates have accurate information about issues surrounding this sort of violence, and they understand the criminal justice, family court, and social services systems. They are trained and familiar with other community resources that might be useful to victims. In addition to being sources of good information, advocates often accompany victims to court, to the police station, or to social services to provide victims with practical and emotional support.
Getting help from someone who has experience working with victims of domestic violence and who knows the intersecting systems can make things a lot easier for victims. These services are available in every county in the state. While specific services vary from one community to another, most programs offer the core services such as individual safety planning, shelter, 24-hour emergency hotline, legal advocacy, peer support counseling, support groups, services for children, and other support services such as help obtaining medical care, legal protection, housing, furniture, clothing, training/educational services, employment, social services, emergency transportation, and translation services.
View the list of WVCADV licensed domestic violence programs, or download our overview brochure.