October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Purple is its color. Free, confidential help in Erie County
Erie County help
Real local organizations, not a national referral form. Every court in Erie County, from Akron to West Seneca, has a named domestic violence advocate assigned to it.
Or email pgw@weinrieblaw.com · 5555 Main Street, Suite 5, Williamsville · Monday to Friday, 9 to 5
You do not need a lawyer to reach any of these.Verify before publishing
A note on confidential communication
Communication between a domestic violence victim and a DV advocate is privileged. That is a different and in some ways broader protection than talking to a friend or a family member. An advocate can help with safety planning, benefits, housing and court accompaniment, and it costs nothing.
Before you click or email
Visiting a website or sending an email can leave a record on your phone or computer, and anyone with access to your email account can read what you send. If that is a risk for you, calling from a phone the other person cannot check, or using a private browsing window on a device they cannot reach, is safer.
Crisis Services
(716) 834-3131The Erie County hotline. Also houses the Erie County Rape Crisis Center. Staff respond to every Erie County emergency room when a victim of sexual assault, domestic violence, family violence or elder abuse presents, and are co-located at the Sheriff's Office, Town of Tonawanda Police and Buffalo Police headquarters. Home and site visits available in many cases.
Haven House
(716) 884-6000A 36 bed shelter for victims of domestic violence and their dependent children, run by Child and Family Services. Individual and group counseling, art empowerment groups for adults and children, an economic empowerment program, Parenting After Violence counseling, and court and CPS advocacy. If calling is not safe, Haven House also offers online chat.
Family Justice Center
(716) 558-7233Multiple services under one roof. Virtual emergency ex parte hearings with Erie County Family Court, Buffalo Police on site for domestic incident reports, the Forensic Medical Unit for strangulation and traumatic brain injury assessment with photo-documentation, family court advocacy and court accompaniment, and referrals to legal services.
Erie County District Attorney, BE SAFE Program
(716) 858-4630Victim Witness Services Bureau. Advocates contact complainants within 24 hours of arraignment. Crisis intervention, referrals, real-time access to Assistant District Attorneys, court safety planning, crime victim compensation applications, and home or hospital visits on request. Walk-ins accepted from any jurisdiction. Spanish speaking advocate available.
Erie County Sheriff's Office DV Unit
(716) 858-7999Confidential support for victims of domestic violence, family violence, elder abuse, rape and sexual assault. Safety planning, crisis intervention, court advocacy, and direct assistance with orders of protection. Seneca speaking and Spanish speaking advocates on staff.
BRAVE Program at ECMC
(716) 898-6461Buffalo Rising Against Violence. 24/7 crisis response for patients presenting to the emergency department with trauma injuries or immediate safety concerns. Safety planning, crime victim reimbursement applications, post-discharge follow up and trauma focused therapeutic services.
Erie County High Risk Team
(716) 277-5003A multidisciplinary team drawn from the District Attorney's Office, BE SAFE, Child Protective Services, the Department of Social Services Legal Department, Probation, the International Institute of Buffalo, law enforcement and New York State Parole. It meets monthly to build individualized intervention plans for the highest risk cases. If lethality factors are present, ask your advocate about a referral.
Hispanics United of Buffalo
(716) 481-8867A multicultural agency serving Hispanic survivors. Intensive case management, non-clinical counseling, advocacy, a domestic violence support group and parenting classes. Spanish language services.
Karen Society of Buffalo
(716) 994-3235Core domestic violence services delivered through a culturally specific lens for immigrants from Burma, including Karen, Chin, Karenni and Burmese communities. Case management, legal referrals and immigration forms. Walk-ins Mondays, appointments Tuesday to Thursday.
RAHAMA
(716) 777-3468For Muslim, immigrant and refugee survivors. Case management, advocacy, assistance with orders of protection, court accompaniment and limited material assistance. Bilingual women's support groups and counseling in Arabic. Also reachable on WhatsApp at (716) 253-1465.
Community Services for Every1
(716) 949-6678The Victim Assistance Program focuses on survivors with intellectual or developmental disabilities, although a diagnosis is not required for most services. Safety plans, counseling, court advocacy, crime victim compensation applications, OPWDD eligibility assistance and transitional housing where available.
Buffalo Against Domestic Violence Coalition
(716) 440-4415A culturally responsive advocacy initiative addressing domestic violence in Buffalo's marginalized communities, with education, outreach and support services built for Black, Brown and diverse populations.
New York State Domestic and Sexual Violence Hotline
1-800-942-6906Confidential, free, available in many languages. Text 844-997-2121 or chat at opdv.ny.gov.
National Domestic Violence Hotline
1-800-799-7233For when you are outside New York, or want someone with no connection to any local agency. Deaf callers can reach the hotline by video phone at 1-855-812-1001.
Free court help and information
For questions about forms and court process. None of these can give you legal advice, but all of them are free.
8th Judicial District Court Help Center
(716) 845-1816Free information and forms for people handling Supreme Court matters, including divorce, on their own. Staff cannot give legal advice or represent you.
Ask a Law Librarian
Text (518) 282-0175Court system law librarians answer short factual questions about the law and court process by text, web form or chat. They are not lawyers and cannot give legal advice. askalawlibrarian.nycourts.gov
LawHelpNY
lawhelpny.orgA nonprofit directory of free legal help, searchable by county, with plain-language guides on safety and orders of protection.
NYS Office of Victim Services
ovs.ny.govHelp with costs you cannot recover elsewhere, such as medical bills and counseling. For a family offense, a Family Court petition can count as the required report.
What the Family Justice Center can do that a law office cannot
Two pieces of this are worth knowing about specifically, because most people have no idea they exist.
A virtual emergency ex parte hearing. Eligible clients can appear before Erie County Family Court from inside the Family Justice Center rather than travelling to the courthouse. A judge or referee decides whether to issue a temporary order of protection that day.
The Forensic Medical Unit. A nurse and a photographer can take an assault history, conduct strangulation and traumatic brain injury assessments, photo-document and body-map visible injuries, and refer for medical care. This matters enormously, because strangulation frequently leaves no mark a camera phone will pick up, and it is one of the strongest predictors of later homicide. Documentation created there can be provided to law enforcement, to the District Attorney, or to your own attorney for a civil case.
Once you have a final order of protection, you can request a free Hope Card, a wallet-sized or digital copy of it.
Keeping your address and your name private
Three separate tools, for three different problems.
In court: the Address Confidentiality Affirmation
Anyone in a Family Court case can ask to keep their address from the other person. Ask the clerk for Form GF-21. If the court grants it, your address is not printed on any court papers, and papers for you go to someone you designate instead: a lawyer, any adult, or the Family Court clerk.
Everywhere else: the Address Confidentiality Program
The New York Department of State runs a free program that gives you a substitute address to use with state and local government agencies, which must accept it. Mail sent there is forwarded to you. It is for New York residents who have left their home out of fear for their safety after domestic violence, stalking, a sexual offense, human trafficking or kidnapping, and for their family members. You do not need proof of what happened and you do not need an advocate to apply, although one can help. Enrollment lasts four years.
Apply online at dos.ny.gov/how-apply-acp, or call (855) 350-4595 toll free or (518) 474-7306. Private businesses are not required to accept the substitute address, and the program cannot remove an address that is already public.
If you change your name
Name change papers are normally public. If an open record would put your safety at risk, the court must seal the records, and it seals your name and address immediately while the request is pending. Being a survivor of domestic violence is one of the circumstances the court considers, and it cannot refuse just because you have no specific history of threats. New York no longer requires a newspaper notice of a name change.
What these pages are
General legal information about New York law, published by Weinrieb Law, a family law firm in Williamsville, New York. This is attorney advertising. It is not legal advice, it does not create an attorney client relationship, and it is not a risk assessment of any individual situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
These pages set no advertising or analytics cookies and keep nothing you click, mark or type. Like the rest of this site, they note how you arrived (from a search, for example) for this browser tab only, and that note is erased when the tab closes. They cannot erase the visit from your browsing history.
Statutory references are to the New York Family Court Act, Domestic Relations Law, Penal Law and Real Property Law. Statutes change. Confirm current law before relying on any of it.
Sources
- Identifying Risk and Lethality Factors in Domestic Violence Cases, Erie Institute of Law and Bar Association of Erie County, presented by Hon. Sheila Schwanekamp (Ret.), December 10, 2025.
- Domestic Violence Risk Factor Guide for Civil Legal Attorneys, January 20, 2024, adapted from the New York State guide for Family Court judges. Center for Court Innovation.
- Lawyer's Manual on Domestic Violence: Representing the Victim, 6th Edition, New York State Unified Court System.
- Domestic Violence, Developing Brains, and the Lifespan, Lynn Hecht Schafran, The Judges' Journal 53(3), Summer 2014.
Sources, continued
- Working with Survivors of Abuse: A Trauma Informed Approach, Public Interest Pro Bono Association.
- Laws of New York 1996, Chapter 85, and Laws of 2009, Chapter 476.
- Campbell et al., Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships, American Journal of Public Health 93(7):1089 (2003).
- Campbell, Helping Women Understand Their Risk in Situations of Intimate Partner Violence, Journal of Interpersonal Violence 19(12):1464 (2004).
- 2025 Domestic Violence Court Advocate List for Erie County, last updated January 31, 2024.