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Confidentiality & Priveledge: Putting the Pieces Together to Protect Survivor Privacy

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Understanding how to support survivor’s privacy, privilege, and confidentiality rights is critical to support safety and choice. This webinar, presented by the Texas Council on Family Violence and the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault, will provide an overview of both federal confidentiality laws and state statutes that offer protections to survivors, including the new privilege statute just passed for survivors of sexual assault. The presenters will also discuss exceptions to the law, and the important pieces of a properly executed a release of information to ensure survivors are informed and their privilege is protected.

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Surrendering Firearms & Saving Lives

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The most dangerous time for a domestic violence victim is the time immediately after leaving the relationship. Women are 3.6 times more likely to be killed shortly after leaving their partner, and the presence of firearms increases the lethality of the violence and expands the number of victims. Research has shown that state laws prohibiting persons subject to protection orders from possessing firearms and requiring them to surrender firearms in their possession were associated with a 14% lower rate of intimate partner firearm homicide.  Taking the steps to ensure that those who are ineligible to possess surrender their firearms could very well save a life. In this webinar, participants will learn the steps necessary for developing a firearm surrender protocol in their community. The presenters will explore all aspects of a successful protocol, from getting buy-in from the necessary criminal justice partners to procedure and paper work, including examples of protocols/procedures currently utilized by communities that are already successfully surrendering firearms.

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