As part of our criminal justice system the provincial government runs victim services programs. Victim services are available throughout BC the province to anyone who has been a victim of a crime, and can also provide support to family members and witnesses. You may feel that you need to leave the family home, or you may want to develop a safety plan in case your partner becomes violent again. A victim support worker can help you develop a safety plan or find a place to stay.

To get connected with a local victim services organization, call VictimLink BC at 1-800-563-0808 for assistance. [http://www.clicklaw.bc.ca/helpmap/service/1055 VictimLink BC] is a province-wide telephone help available free to people across BC British Columbia and Yukon 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

* help understanding and dealing with the effects of a crime,* safety planning,* emotional support,* referrals to other community agencies that can help,* help understanding what happens in court and providing support and guidance through the court process, and* help accessing information about and applying for financial benefits, if you are eligible.

Victim services are either run by the police (, called ''police-based victim services''), or run by community organizations, (called ''community-based victim services''). You do not need to make a report to the police to access community-based victim services. You can access both police-based and community-based victim services if you have reported made a report to police.

In cases where If you choose to start the criminal process, the first step is to make a report to the police. Many people are hesitant to report family violence. People can be afraid they won't be believed or your children are in immediate danger that it is important will make things worse. Connecting with community-based victim services through VictimLink can be a good way to help you understand the criminal process and feel supported when choosing whether to make a report to phone 911 right awaypolice.

Though you do not need to immediately make a report to police after an incident of domestic violence, there are some good reasons to make reports as soon as possible. These include:* Some criminal offences must be charged within 6 months of the incident* If In cases where you or your children are in immediate danger, making a police report may result in the police taking actions to protect you* Evidence it is often easier important to gather close to an incident* Myths and stereotypes still exist in our system, and a late report may cause the police, crown counsel, or a judge to believe the reported violence is less serious or they may believe you are untruthfulphone 911 right away.

Until Though you do not need to immediately make a report to police after an incident of family violence, there are some good reasons to make reports as soon as possible:* some criminal offences must be charged within 6 months of the incident,* if you are in danger, making a police report may result in the police taking steps to protect you,* evidence is often easier to gather close to an incident, and* myths and stereotypes still exist in our system, and a late report may cause the police, crown counsel, or a judge to believe the reported violence is less serious or that you are being untruthful. The criminal process will not begin until a report has been made to the police, whether by you or by another person, the criminal process will not begin.

It is important to remember that the release conditions set out in ''undertakings'' or ''recognizances'' are legally binding conditions that an accused person must follow. That means if they break their release conditions they can be arrested for breaching the terms of their release, which is a serious criminal offence. If the accused person doesn't follow the terms of their recognizance or undertaking, you can call the police or ask community-based victim services to help you report the breach. Many parties may people still want to be able to communicate with each other despite even though criminal chargeshave been laid. Sometimes it is necessary for arranging parenting or sometimes people want have to talk to each other to receive help during organize child care or parenting time. Sometimes the person who made a difficult situation but criminal report never wanted to end their relationship. You It's important to know that you cannot change the terms of your partnerthe accused person's recognizance or drop the charges yourself, ; only a judge can do that. If you want your partner’s to change the conditions of the accused person's release conditions changed, you may speak talk to Crown crown counselfirst. If you contact your partner the accused person without changing the getting their conditionschanged first, you could be complicating the situation by inviting them to break the terms of the recognizancetheir release. This can result in further criminal charges against your spouse. It may also lead police to believe that you don’t really need protection and can lead to difficulty with enforcement of the conditions in the future.

If you are considering changing no-contact release conditions, talk with a community-based victim services worker to help ensure you and your children’s safety remains paramount in this processare protected.

You can ask that the police and Crown crown counsel keep you up to speed on the progress of the criminal case. Police and Crown crown counsel will be are limited in the information they can give you. This can be , usually because of privacy considerations and because you are a witness. Crown Police and police crown counsel may direct you to victim services instead of communicating with you directly.

You should also ask for a copy of your statement and the recognizance that your ex-partner is released onsets out the conditions of the accused person's release. If you have a lawyer for helping you with a family courtlaw problem, be sure to give them copies of these documents to them.

You can go to your ex-partner’s the accused person's court dates, but in cases where there are no-contact conditions or a protection order, it can may be better to not attend. Many courthouses are small and poorly not set up to keep complainants and accused persons separate. There may only be one waiting room and a limited number of sheriffs. Another consideration is that many court appearances are often not scheduled for a specific time, so you could be waiting all day to watch a quick adjournment with no new information being provided.

There is a good chance that crown counsel or the police will decide not to prosecute the charges against the acccused person. There are many reasons that criminal charges are not pursued, and many of them don't have anything to do with whether the events giving rise to the charges actually happened. If you have concerns for your safety, or the safety of your children, it can be a good idea to get go to civil court and ask for a family court protection orderunder the ''[[Family Law Act]]'', even if your ex-partner the accused person is subject to conditions from the criminal court conditions. Crown counsel may decide not to pursue the charges against your ex-partnerthe accused person, and if the charges are withdrawn or stayed, any conditions that the accused person was required to follow will also come to an end.  It is also important to remember that you can apply for a family law protection order even if police do not investigate, or Crown if crown counsel do does not lay charges.