Bridge to Safety: An Evaluation of a Pilot Intervention to Screen for and Respond to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault with Refugee Women in the U.S.

The IRC’s Bridge to Safety project integrates protocols for screening and responding  to domestic violence and sexual assault into IRC refugee resettlement service delivery in the U.S. The Bridge to Safety project was piloted from April 2014–April 2015 in three IRC U.S. Programs offices: Baltimore, Dallas, and Seattle. Findings from the evaluation indicate that integrating domestic violence and sexual assault screening into refugee resettlement shows promise in communicating that IRC is a safe space for women to discuss their experiences and concerns. Implementation of the Bridge to Safety project highlights the extent to which violence against  women is an issue of importance to both resettled refugee women and the staff who serve them, and reiterates the critical need to make violence against women a priority in U.S. resettlement policy and practice.