Carl Jung said “Our freedom does not lie outside us, but within us.”
At Radiant Futures, we envision a future where everyone in our community lives and thrives free from violence and harm.
Our culture is centered on survivors and trauma-informed, transferring the power of agency from Radiant Futures to the survivors and their families. This is a crucial first step for survivors to reclaim their personal freedom—over their bodies, choices, emotions, confidence, and dreams for the future.
With the guidance and support of advocates, survivors can choose services that cater to their personal needs and goals. By creating an individualized and dynamic plan, survivors can map out their journey and adjust as their priorities shift and change during the healing process.
One-way survivors choose to regain their personal freedom is by pursuing a legal protection order called a Domestic Violence Restraining Order or DVRO.
You may have heard the legal term “Restraining Order” before, or maybe you’re familiar with the term “Order of Protection” (specific terminology refers to different types of judicial orders, but usually a “Restraining Order” also includes “Orders of Protection”). These are legally binding orders issued by a judge that “Restrains” one person (the person who caused harm to another person) in order to “Protect” the person who was harmed (and often their kids or family members). These orders often include the restrained person being ordered to have no contact with the protected person, to stay away from the protected person, and – if both people lived together when the abuse occurred – to order the restrained person to move out of the previously shared residence.
A common legal protection many survivors request from the courts is the Domestic Violence Restraining Order – it’s a non-criminal court order issued by a judge in a family law courthouse, that helps keep an abuse survivor safe from the person who harmed them.
“But it’s just a piece of paper in my hand.”
We hear this a lot. And we get it. It’s really hard for many survivors to trust that a restraining order will protect them.
And at the end of the day, a Restraining Order IS a “piece of paper” – but it’s so much more. First, it’s a “piece of paper” that makes it clear that a judge believed a survivor and validated their need for protection from additional abuse or harm. Further, this “piece of paper” gives the survivor the legal right to call law enforcement to have the Restraining Order ENFORCED against the restrained person, if that restrained person decides to disobey the court’s orders of protection. And an act of disobeying a restraining order doesn’t have to be an act of violence itself – just an act carried out in violation of the judge’s orders – and this violation is in itself a crime in California, and can be punished by jail time. Without a restraining order in place, an abusive person who texted a person they had abused “Hey baby I love you, let’s get back together” wouldn’t be committing a crime – even if the survivor was terrified from receiving this text. WITH a restraining order in place, if the restrained person was ordered to have No Contact with the protected person, then a simple, even perhaps a well-meaning text would be a crime to send to the protected person.
Our Legal Advocates are here to emotionally support a survivor through the Restraining Order process, and to help them put together an individualized safety plan, which can be a crucial component in helping someone find true freedom from violence and harm – both through legal protections and from working to build an internal peace of mind necessary to be able to move forward and thrive.
If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please call our 24/7 Helpline at 877-531-5522.