Abstract
In supporting survivors of intimate partner violence navigate the criminal justice system, many agencies offer legal and/or court programs guided by an empowerment-based, survivor-centered approach. However, there is limited research examining survivor-centered practice in the context of court services. The goal of this study was to explore the specific skills and strategies used by one sample of family court advocates to conduct survivor-centered safety planning with survivors. Twenty-two recorded family court advocate-survivor sessions were qualitatively explored and survivor-centered strategies for safety planning were identified. Such strategies included open-ended exploration of risks and safety options, paraphrasing survivor-identified risks and safety plans, prioritizing immediate risks, understanding safety strategies and resources, exploring support systems, providing survivor-centered information, and discussing the pros and cons of safety options. Understanding specific skills and strategies that may be utilized by family court advocates can support the field in developing, implementing, training on, supervising, and evaluating survivor-centered approaches.