CapeWomenOnline - Where Cape Women Shine

The Cape Cod Center for Women (CCCFW) is the only emergency shelter for women and children fleeing domestic abuse on Cape Cod and the Islands. We provide services for battered women and their children. We are a Beacon of Hope.

What distinguishes CCCFW?

Our services are customized to each client and include addressing the needs of children who have either witnessed or experienced violence. The program at CCCFW involves esteem building, independent living training, and education.

Clients stay at CCCFW long enough to reap the benefits of appropriate counseling and to develop self-respect, confidence, and support systems that will increase their chances of avoiding a return to their batterer or falling into another unhealthy relationship once they leave the shelter.

Strengthening the Family

In order to help our clients rebuild their health, personal relationships and career skills, mothers and their children are offered medical and mental health care. Both child and parent advocates work with the family in groups and one-on-one. With guidance from the Center, the mother is encouraged to set realistic goals for attaining her independence.

CCCFW helps mothers achieve their goals through GED preparation, household budget management, computer training, reading assistance, professional attire guidance, training in the preparation of nutritious meals, improving communication skills, and developing safety plans.

Advocates help the mothers set goals for the children too. They teach through role-playing positive parenting skills, arrange medical appointments, they build relationships with the schools and education school staff about domestic violence issues.

Clients stay at CCCFW for a few weeks to a few months, until an opening becomes available for the family in either transitional housing or a permanent residence in a safe neighborhood.

Providing Quality Care

CCCFW embraces a holistic approach. Our shelter focuses on quality care, building the foundation for a better life for families while providing the tools to help them live violence free. Domestic violence service programs such as ours, focusing on quality and effectiveness, are often under-funded by the government which allocates support base on the quantify of clients served – how many clients go through the shelter’s doors - not the quality of life changing experience while in the shelter.

We believe that this revolving door approach is short sighted and does not address the roots of the problems of families learning how to permanently live free from domestic violence. CCCFW is connected to a national network of emergency shelters that coordinate to meet the needs of victims of domestic violence. Our clients are referred to us through a variety of sources including hospitals, police, various community agencies, and a telephone hotline safe-link.

We offer:

• A 24-hour safe house – a free confidential emergency shelter
• A 24-hour crisis hotline providing information, safety plans and referrals
• Emergency transportation and transportation for shelter residents to medical appointments, job interviews, etc.
• Food, clothing, personal care items and toys for children
• One-on-one counseling and coaching toward the achievement of safe, realistic, personal goals for clients and their children
• Assistance with networking and connecting with community services for obtaining: housing, welfare, education, employment, healthcare and child advocacy
• Moral support and guidance through weekly community-living meetings and empowerment groups
• Connection to parenting groups and transportation o schools
• Child care

Please consider a gift that will enable a family to reside in a safe environment. For financial contributions, questions or more information on how you can help, please contact: Cape Cod Center for Women, (508) 564-SAFE (7233), P.O. Box 141, N. Falmouth, MA 02556. Visit the CCCW website at www.capecodshelter.org