For safety's sake, we put only first names on the nametags so volunteers could not be contacted outside of the program. The temporary PFA is good for ten days, at which time a hearing of both parties is held to determine whether a permanent PFA, good for one year, should be issued. Many of the women come in exhausted. They have been up all night and have their children with them. I finally brought in coloring books and crayons so the children would have something to do for the two hours that the parent is filling out paperwork.
Some petitioners are illiterate.
We are encouraged to have petitioners complete the paperwork themselves, mainly because there just are not enough volunteers to go around. If we do end up writing the actual description of the incident, we have to initial our description and have the petitioner read it and initial it as well. This is to ensure that the petitioner will not tell the judge that he or she was unaware of what we wrote. The petitioner must initial the description to show he or she has read the description and agrees with it. The stories these women tell are chilling.