01.

HISTORY

For nearly 40 years, Iris Domestic Violence Center (formerly operating as Capital Area Family Violence Intervention Center and The Battered Women's Program), a nonprofit domestic violence service organization in Louisiana, has provided professional, compassionate, and empowering support to battered women and their children in the Greater Baton Rouge area and surrounding parishes.

The agency began in 1979 because of a project study called the Commission on the Needs of Women, which performed a city-wide needs assessment on the women in Baton Rouge.  In the end, the commissioned survey revealed that one of the largest issues facing women was that of battering and domestic abuse.  More importantly, there were no existing services to address this issue.

A Board of Directors was formed in 1979 with the purpose of opening an emergency shelter for
battered women and their dependent children in Baton Rouge, and the Capital Area Family Violence Intervention Center, Inc. (CAFVIC, Inc.) was created.  The shelter first opened its doors to survivors in February of 1981. After training the first Battered Women’s Program volunteers in January, a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week crisis phone line became operational in early 1982.

Currently, Iris operates a 24-Hour Domestic Violence Crisis Response Hotline and an emergency safe house shelter.  Iris offers safety planning, advocacy, information, and referral services and provides legal representation for individuals seeking personal protective orders against abusers.  We offer community outreach and education on the nature of domestic violence and its physical, emotional, and psychological impact on its victims.  Iris offers trauma-informed care to qualified victims of domestic abuse, family or relationship violence, and their dependent children.
Services are offered in a nondiscriminatory manner, confidentially, and are free of charge.  Services are provided throughout the Greater Baton Rouge area and include outreach offices in Ascension Parish, Iberville Parish, and West Baton Rouge Parish.