Fleeing a Domestic Violence Situation Battered Women's Shelters

If a woman is fleeing domestic violence, she should be referred to the nearest battered women's shelter. All battered women's shelters have 24-hour hotlines, and generally accept only women who are in imminent danger. Often, they will refer women to a "Safe House” outside of her own community. Since Safe Houses are meant to protect women from being found, they must agree to certain rules governing their activities. Specifically they are often asked not to contact the abuser or do anything that will lead to them being found. Most safe houses are meant to be short term until the crisis has passed, at which time families can move into a transitional program for battered women where they continue to heal and receive assistance finding permanent housing and dealing with other remaining issues.

Women who cannot get access to a battered women's shelter, don't want to go into a battered women's shelter, or won't agree to the rules of these shelters (such as counseling, confidentiality, support groups, etc.), should be referred to a homeless shelter. If the woman has children and cannot access a battered women's shelter, she must go to the local DTA (Welfare) office to get access to a homeless family shelter. A woman without children who cannot gain access to a battered women's shelter should be referred directly to the nearest homeless individual shelter.

For more information and help for battered women, call the Safelink, a 24 hour multi-lingual statewide hotline 1-877-785-2020.

The following links list the battered women’s shelters in the state, by region:

Greater Boston

North of Boston

Southeastern Massachusetts