My Dog is My Home: Co-Sheltering in Domestic Violence Services

These presentations were recorded at the 2021 My Dog is My Home Co-sheltering Conference

Sheltering Animals & Families Together (SAF-T): A Life-Saving Initiative 
With an increase in awareness in the need to house domestic violence survivors with their pets to remove a barrier to safety, Allie Phillips founded Sheltering Animals & Families Together (SAF-T)® and wrote the guidelines that has helped domestic violence shelters on how to create onsite pet housing since 2008. Research studies show that up to 65% of women will delay going to a shelter because of concerns about their pets and shelter women are nearly 11 times more likely to report their partner hurt/killed their pet. The SAF-T Program was created as a solution for when animal abuse links with domestic violence and child abuse, and to help families stay together while maintaining the human-animal bond. This webinar features shelters that have created one of the 4 SAF-T Housing Models, and discusses how to overcome common concerns such as allergies and fear of pets. 

Don't Forget the Pets 
Greater Good Charities and RedRover believe that pets are family – and that no one should have to choose between their safety and their pet. Because of this shared mission, we joined forces to help human service organizations and animal shelters create community-based collaborative programs to help both people and pets in crisis. Together, we share our knowledge on fundraising, insights on human services and animal welfare, and construction expertise to help organizations welcome pets of domestic violence survivors and the unhoused populations. 

Beyond Survival: How PALS and Co-living Help Recovering Families Thrive 
Urban Resource Institute's People and Animals Living Safely (PALS) program has been sheltering domestic violence survivors in NYC together with their pets since 2013. This presentation explores the intersection of domestic violence, pets, family homelessness, mental illness, economic inequality and racism by sharing stories that illustrate the complex and varied needs of DV survivors in our program. We share our surprising realization that the pets involved often are not the most "challenging" aspect of a family's situation, and how PALS works together within URI and with the help community partners to connect residents to services and resources. Survivor voices are featured in this presentation. 

Presenter(s): Allie Phillips, Founder & CEO of Sheltering Animals & Families Together; Bryna Donnelly, Vice President of Pet Programs at Greater Good; Katie Campbell, Director of Collaboration and Outreach at RedRover; Danielle Emery, PALS Director; Lina Cohen, PALS Supervisor & Colleen Parker, PALS Training and TA Coordinator, Urban Resource Institute 

keywords: My Dog is My Home conference, animal well-being, unhoused people with pets, homelessness; domestic violence, co-sheltering pets and people, SAF-T, pets of domestic violence survivors, sheltering domestic violence survivors and their pets