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927 Chapter 5:Temporary Assistance for Domestic Violence Survivors (TA-DVS) Program • Section 9: Co-located domestic violence advocates (07/2026) It is important to remind the survivor that ODHS employees are mandatory reporters and the co-located DV advocates are not mandatory reporters. ODHS should tell survivors, “You have the right to an advocate.” This can empower survivors by informing them of their right to access confidential services including further support and domestic violence expertise on safety planning. ODHS can always ask questions and engage with advocates. If a survivor does not want to engage in advocacy services, advocates are still a resource to ODHS for general questions, hypothetical scenarios, to help get safety planning ideas, get general information and get resources from the domestic violence experts. Example of how ODHS can hypothetically speak with an advocate without breaking confidentiality: “I am working with a survivor who applied for the TA-DVS grant, but she is not ready to talk to the advocate. She is planning to leave this weekend, but I am concerned about her abuser still being in the home. What are some ideas I can talk to her about to be safer while making this plan?” Our collaboration with co-located advocates helps to support survivor safety and increases resources available to families.