Print copies are available for free from: Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV)
6400 Flank Drive, Suite 1300
Harrisburg, PA 17112-2778
Phone: (800) 537-2238
For a free download, visit the publications section of the PCADV website at:
www.pcadv.org
For further information and technical assistance, contact the National Center on Full Faith and Credit at: (800) 256-5883, option 2.

The full faith and credit provision of VAWA can enable survivors of abuse to call on law enforcement officers and the courts to enforce their orders of protection across state or tribal lines.

This slender booklet provides clear, precise information about the, full faith and credit, provision of the 1994 federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). When domestic violence survivors cross state lines (or other jurisdictional boundaries) to work, visit family or relocate, they often find themselves in danger when their abusers pursue or stalk them. The, full faith and credit, provision establishes nationwide enforcement of orders of protection. Under the provision, courts and law enforcement personnel in all fifty states, on Indian tribal lands, and in the five U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, etc) are required to honor and enforce orders of protection issued by courts in other jurisdictions. This allows survivors to exercise their right to move freely without sacrificing the measure of safety afforded by legal protection orders. The booklet includes concise definitions and detailed advice for domestic violence advocates, survivors, judges, prosecutors and police officers about how to use the full faith and credit provisions to keep survivorsâ safe.

Recommended for court and law enforcement personnel charged with responding to domestic violence, as well as community policing collaboratives, coordinated community response teams, domestic violence advocates and survivors.