Battling Domestic Violence : New clinics at courthouses in San Fernando and Van Nuys help victims of battering obtain temporary restraining orders.

Day after day, the female voices on the phone sounded alike:

He’s going to kill me.

Where can I go?

What can I do?

For seven years, Sharley Allen offered advice, but it was never enough.

“It was frustrating,” said Allen, executive director of the Family Law Center in Panorama City, which represents clients in domestic disputes. “I could only explain to them how to fill out forms. Our appointments were always filled six weeks in advance, so we had no room for those people. I knew they had no other place to go.”

They do now.

Last month, a new domestic violence clinic opened at the San Fernando Courthouse. A similar one was established in March at the Van Nuys Courthouse. Both were set up with the help of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Operated by volunteer lawyers, paralegals and law students, the clinics help women complete complicated legal forms to get temporary restraining orders against men who allegedly have committed acts of violence against them. In three months at the Van Nuys center, 72 orders have been obtained.

“They used to try to fill out forms themselves, and more often than not, many would give up,” Allen said. “The forms are intimidating. Just going through the process is intimidating.”

The process can take hours as the women, often showing physical evidence of beatings, try to calmly recount what happened to them.

“They either say too much or too little,” Allen said. “We ask them, what exactly did he do? That’s what the judge wants to know.”

When the forms are completed, a judge almost routinely grants a restraining order for 20 days. A hearing is set for a few weeks later to determine whether a three-year order should be issued.

It is a process that more women are undertaking.

“People are more aware that they are victims,” said Cheryl Ward, head of Los Angeles County’s Domestic Violence Council, a 38-member group that deals with education and training. “There has always been domestic violence, but now people are letting go of the things that kept them from reporting it.” Previously, Ward added, women were likely to dismiss the violent acts as routine behavior for men in society.

In 1986, there were 19,418 reported incidents of domestic violence in L.A. County, according to the police. In 1991, that figure doubled to 39,154, Ward said. (An incident is any time police officially respond to a domestic disturbance.)

The Van Nuys clinic was the first in the San Fernando Valley. Other clinics also operate in Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Norwalk, and seven more are planned, including one in Burbank.

In Van Nuys, at least two of the clinic’s 70 volunteers are required to work each day. Volunteers undergo a three-hour training program in which they learn how to fill out the forms and are taught about the syndrome of battered women. The same volunteers will be used for the San Fernando clinic.

The Van Nuys clinic is often busy, serving about eight cases a day. One morning, in late May, Jennifer--not her real name--arrived to seek a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend. She said that he was addicted to crack and that he had threatened to kill her. She had wanted to come forward for months but feared his reaction if he knew she was trying to keep him away.

Jennifer received her temporary restraining order and a court date to get a three-year order. But she never showed up in court.

“They change their mind a lot,” said Wayne Alvarez, who volunteers at the Van Nuys clinic, and is studying to be a paralegal. “They’re intimidated. I feel sorry for them. I try to persuade them that this is the best legal way, but they have so much anxiety.”

Allen said the clinic doesn’t help just women. About 25% of the cases have involved men or couples complaining about harassment from other family members.

“This happens a lot more than I thought,” said Allen, who recalled one case in which a 20-year-old man had allegedly beaten his parents. “I just expected battered women.”

Where to Go

Location: Superior Court domestic violence clinics at San Fernando Courthouse, 900 Third St., San Fernando; Van Nuys Courthouse, 6230 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys.

Hours: 8:30 a.m. to noon, Mondays through Fridays, at both courthouses.

Call: (818) 782-1016.