You Deserve to feel Safe

Everyone deserves to feel safe in their relationships - especially with romantic partners and family members. Unfortunately, too many of our neighbors live in pain, fear, and uncertainty because of ongoing violence in their relationships. It doesn’t have to be this way.

If you or someone you know is experiencing violence in a relationship, you’re not on your own. The City of Austin and our partners are here to support your journey to safety, wherever you are starting.

Get Help Now

If this is an active emergency, dial 9-1-1

Access support through 24-hour hotlines:

SAFE Alliance provides confidential support to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, sex trafficking, and child abuse: visit safeaustin.org, text 737.888.SAFE (7233), or call 512.267.SAFE (7233).

Asian Family Support Services of Austin welcomes all survivors with specialty providing services to Asian clients & communities in many language: visit afssaustin.org or call the 24-Hour Crisis and Sexual Assault Hotline at 877-281-8371.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available to support and connect with resources outside of Central Texas by calling 1.800.799.SAFE (7233), texting "START" to 88788, or visiting thehotline.org/.

The Austin Police Department (APD) can and should be reached in an emergency by dialing 9-1-1. If you are not in an active emergency and want to connect with local police:  

APD Victim Services supports survivors navigating domestic violence to report and navigate the investigative process and can be reached Monday-Friday 8AM-5PM at 512.974.5037. Learn more about how APD Victim Services can assist you with navigating the reporting and investigation process, understanding your rights as a victim of crime, and connect you with counseling, legal, and community resources for ongoing support.

Safety Planning

Whether or not you or someone you know is already experiencing relationship abuse, learning how to develop a plan for safety now can ensure you’re prepared if the need arises. Safety planning is the practice of thinking through and accounting for important areas of safety for adults and children experiencing abuse. While no survivor is responsible for the violence of an abuser, there are strategies to lower the risk of the abuse outlasting the relationship.

A safety plan can help increase safety while still seeing or living with an abusive partner. However, a safety plan is very important when changing or ending a relationship - as this is often when abusers escalate violence to maintain control of their victim(s).

Not sure how serious a situation is? The National Domestic Violence Hotline has a resource to help identify abuse. Safety Planning with a trained advocate can include a lethality assessment to help determine the current level of danger of being killed by an intimate partner.

Learn about Safety Planning

Relationships are complex - and everyone’s path to safety is different. Explore resources to better understand and create a safety plan:

General Planning Resources

• Domestic Violence Personal Safety Plan: This simple pamphlet from the Texas Council on Family Violence goes over important considerations for safety planning and includes a checklist of materials to have ready if/when a survivor leaves.
• Safety Planning While Living with an Abusive Partner: This web resource from the National Domestic Violence Hotline provides an overview of planning with links to specific resources and information about how to access support from the Hotline.
• Things to Consider while Safety Planning: This graphic introduces important factors to consider while safety planning for yourself or someone else.

Life Admin Resources

• Crime Vic­tim Pseu­do­nym: Survivors of domestic violence are eligible to use a fake name, called a pseudonym, to keep their real name private in public records about their case; forms provided by the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
• Early Lease Termination for Victims of Family Violence: TexasLawHelp.org explains how a tenant who experiences family violence (as defined by law) may be eligible to terminate their lease without penalty.
• Certification Letter Victim of Family Violence Deposit Waiver: Austin Energy will waive a deposit fee for survivors of family violence who complete and submit this form.
• 911 Cell Phones: All phones, regardless of having access to cellular service/paying for a plan, are able to call 911. 911 Cell Phone Bank or Secure the Call collect phones, which can be accessed through APD Victim Services or other organizations by request.

Digital and Video Security

• Technology Safety & Privacy: A Toolkit for Survivors: Safety Net Project has collected and shared safety tips, information, and privacy strategies for survivors on the use of technology.
• Guide to securing your Ring doorbell: Refuge provides information and instructions about securing access to a Ring Video Doorbell 2; the Texas Council on Family Violence has developed a supplemental safety guide for survivors using a Ring Video Doorbell.
• The Digital Exhaust Opt Out Guide 4.0: While this guide was developed to help law enforcement understand and decrease their online presence, it can help a survivor limit access to their information on the Internet. This can support greater privacy during safety planning and beyond.

Addressing Escalating Violence

• SAFE from Stalking: A Comprehensive Guide to Protecting Yourself: This resource from the SAFE Alliance educates about stalking and the preventative measures to help safeguard against potential harm and promote a culture of awareness and protection.
• Stalking Logs: Because stalking is one of the most common signs of escalation leading up to fatal abuse, Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center (SPARC) provides a resource to understand and document the behavior for protection order applications, divorce and child custody cases, or criminal prosecution.
• The Violent Reality of Strangulation: This resource from the SAFE Alliance educates about strangulation, which is often overlooked despite being the strongest predictors of homicide in abusive relationships.
• Protective Orders: A critical safety tool for survivors leaving a relationship, this legal order requires an abuser to stay away from a survivor of family violence, dating violence, sexual assault, abuse, stalking, harassment, or human trafficking. It can also prohibit someone from possessing a firearm, reducing the risk of murder during a dangerous time.
• Violence During Pregnancy: Pregnancy can be an especially dangerous time for people in abusive relationships, and abuse can often begin or escalate during pregnancy. The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides specific recommendations for maintaining safety during a pregnancy.
• Violence Against New Mothers: Post-partum can be a challenging time for any new parent, and the presence of violence creates risks for the entire family. Support through the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline is available by call or text at 1-833-TLC-MAMA.

Connect to Safety Planning Support

Get support to learn more and begin making a safety plan:

• SAFE Alliance recommends calling the SAFEline to help assess threats and options for safety that are tailored to an individual/family's specific experiences and needs. Reach the SAFEline by texting 737.888.SAFE (7233), or calling 512.267.SAFE (7233).
• Asian Family Support Services of Austin (AFSSA) supports survivors through trained advocates who can help with creating safety plans, developing strategies that suit a survivors’ needs, and helping to rehearse these strategies. Begin the conversation by calling the 24-hour hotline at 877-281-8371.
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline also supports safety planning by calling 1.800.799.SAFE (7233), texting "START" to 88788, or visiting thehotline.org/.  
• The Harvest Trauma Recovery Center (HTRC) supports survivors of recent violent crimes who are experiencing post-traumatic stress but not receiving other healthcare. Explore if HTRC services are a fit for your safety and healing needs: harvesttrc.org/
• Austin Police Department Victim Services Division provides compassionate, trauma-informed support to survivors of domestic violence. Their trained mental health counselors offer immediate crisis intervention, emotional support, and safety planning to help survivors feel secure and empowered. They guide survivors through the judicial process, including assistance with protective orders and understanding court processes, while also connecting them to essential community resources such as shelters, counseling, legal aid, and financial support. As a survivor of domestic violence, you have specific rights. Our counselors are available to assist you in understanding those rights and advocating on your behalf.  A survivor can reach APD Victim Services by calling 512.974.5037, or start by learning more online.

Addressing Guns and Domestic Violence

As part of the City’s commitment to addressing domestic violence, the Office of Violence Prevention has partnered with Travis County, the SAFE Alliance, Rio Grande Legal Aid, and more local organizations to develop a firearm surrender protocol. This process was funded by the Office of Violence Against Women and helped to close procedural gaps to safely, legally, and temporarily remove firearms from abusers in Travis County.

This work is important in our community because two-thirds of all domestic violence murders are committed with guns. And based on new findings from the SAFE Alliance, about 20% survivors who call the SAFEline every month fear violence from a gun or another weapon in their relationship. These are calls from survivors here in the Austin metro area.

Protective Orders can require an abuser to temporarily surrender any firearms, reducing the danger to everyone involved.

Learn about Protective Orders

Guns make domestic violence more deadly - and thanks to a new firearm surrender protocol, our community has a clear way to temporarily and reliably remove guns from volatile situations. A Protective Order can require an abuser to surrender their firearm for a period of time, usually about two years. You can seek help from the Travis County Attorney’s Office, hire your own attorney, or pursue an order on your own.

If you reach out to an advocate or counselor for support and your abuser owns a firearm, ask how a Protective Order could be part of your safety plan. The following resources also provide more information about what a Protective Order is, how it contributes to safety, and how to pursue one in Texas and/or Travis County.

Get a Protective Order: Get started pursuing a Protective Order with the Travis County Attorney’s Office.

I need a protective order: This TexasLawHelp.org guide explains how to ask the court for a protective order.

How to Get a Protective Order in Texas for Survivors of Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault: Legal Aid for Survivors of Sexual Assault created this video as an overview for Protective Orders.

Support in Representing Yourself: The Texas Advocacy Project provides free support to help survivors pursue a Protective Order without an attorney.

Note: Protective Orders should be pursued in the county where either the abuser or the survivor live.

Support through City of Austin Services

When developing plans for safety, many City of Austin departments offer services to address the violence, access the Internet and connect to help for rebuilding a life without violence.

• Austin Police Department: Whether or not a survivor wants to press charges, APD has resources to support safety planning and accessing community-based services. Learn More.
• Austin Energy: Residents experiencing domestic violence can get their deposit waived by Austin Energy when they establish new services. Learn More.  
• Austin Public Libraries: Public libraries provide a free, comfortable place to access Internet services. Find library locations and hours.
• Austin Public Health: Within Austin Public Health, several programs can support residents, and especially parents, to meet needs during times of change:
  • Neighborhood Centers: The City of Austin's Neighborhood Centers help families in need with free services like food help, job search help, health screenings, bus passes, and more.
  • WIC: WIC, the special supplemental nutrition program for pregnant women, new mothers and young children, provides benefits to purchase healthy foods and health education to families with qualifying incomes.
  • MIOP: Through Maternal Infant Outreach Program (MIOP), Certified Community Health Workers (CHWs) provide psychosocial support to Black and African American expecting or new mothers in Travis County, including one-on-one support through home visits, navigation of social services, and overall maternal and infant health education.