Senator Farley Notes October Is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This designation provides an opportunity to call attention to this problem and to the programs and services which are available to help victims.

In Fulton County, help is available by calling the District Attorney Victim Assistance Program at (518) 736-5511, Family Counseling Center at (518) 725-4310, or the Family Violence Project at  (518) 725-5300. Hamilton County Domestic Violence Program is available at (800) 721-8534. Herkimer County’s Catholic Charities Domestic Violence Program can be called at (315) 866-0458. In Schenectady County, assistance can be obtained by calling District Attorney Victim Assistance at (518) 388-4364 or YWCA Families in Violence at (518) 374-3386. Saratoga County has several numbers available for assistance: Wellspring Domestic Violence Services at (518) 584-8188, Catholic Charities at (518) 587-5000, Center for the Family at (518) 587-8008, and District Attorney Victim Advocate at (518) 885-2263.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-7233. The number for the New York State hotline is 1-800-942-6906.

More information can be obtained from the national website www.TheHotline.org or from the NYS website http://opdv.ny.gov/, which includes information on local agencies in each county that can provide assistance. I was pleased to obtain special funding this year to assist agencies in each county I represent, as well as funding for regional legal assistance programs for victims of domestic violence.