Just for teens. It’s a chance to share ideas about violence prevention, celebrate the work being done throughout the state and meet with state legislators. Registration is required and limited to 40 participants. For more information visit the Prevention page and click on Teens.

If you want to launch the No More campaign in your own community, here are the materials that will help you do it. Visit the Resources/No More Campaign page for more information.

A report of domestic violence deaths in Indiana is now available:  DV Fatality Review 2009-10.

Join us for the 10th annual walk/run/wheelchair roll to benefit ICADV. It all begins at Victory Field at 8 am.  Come for the competition or just to take a nice 3.1 mile walk through downtown Indy with your friends and family. All money raised will benefit ICADV and the work to prevent and eliminate domestic violence.

A silent auction full of new and exciting items will be part of this year’s conference.

October 29 and 30, 2013 are the dates for this year’s conference. It will be at the Marriott East Hotel in Indianapolis. Watch for details.

A new service available to all OnStar customers  could make it even easier for abusive partners to track their survivors.  Family Link, a new add-on service for OnStar subscribers, not only allows real-time tracking at street level, but also allows subscribers to schedule email or text alerts to update them on the location of their vehicle at specific dates and times.

For an additional $3.99 per month, subscribers can add the service to an existing OnStar account on factory-installed systems.  Once active, vehicle owners are immediately able to use the system in the same way that law enforcement does without filing a police report. Using the Family Link website, they can pull up the exact location of the car at any time, as well as have the system itself inform them of the car’s (and thus driver’s) whereabouts.  The product, as is common, is marketed primarily to parents of teens,.  However, even the creators of the system acknowledge that the potential for misuse is present.

For advocates, it is important to be aware of this service, particularly if your shelter or advocacy agency is an undisclosed location.  Just as we safety plan around GPS in cell phones, it may be wise to begin asking about the cars survivors bring to shelter with them, as well.  If the car is equipped with OnStar, some immediate safety steps need to be taken.  First, the survivor can make contact with OnStar and ask that their account be password protected, ie no information about the vehicle or its’ whereabouts can be released without the proper password.  If the survivor is comfortable with it, the account can be cancelled altogether.  However, be aware that that does not remove the GPS capability from the car.  In cases with high lethality risk, taking the vehicle to a shop to have the system itself physically disabled may be the best course of action.