Abstract
Intimate partner violence poses a serious health risk to millions of women and children every year. In 2000, over 1,000 women were killed by an intimate partner (U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003). Research suggests that intimate partner homicide is usually the final act of violence, an accumulation of violence that has intensified and escalated over time. The concern for professionals working with intimate partner violence victims is how to identify factors where a batterer is most likely going to commit severe or fatal violence against the victim. One approach in addressing this issue is to adopt a risk assessment tool that evaluates risk factors in a victim’s situation. The higher the number of risk factors in the situation, the higher the risk is for the victim. The purpose of this project was to create and implement safety planning and risk assessment tools for an intimate partner violence hotline and safe house. At the completion of the project not only had these tools been implemented, but staff had been trained in how to successfully utilize them.