Highlight on Robi Schlaff, Director of Westchester County’s Office for Women.

Originally published in March 2020 Newsletter

March is Women’s History month and we met with Robin Schlaff, known to most of us as Robi, to talk about the Westchester County Office for Women (OFW), where she serves as Director, and her involvement with Hope’s Door.

As stated on the OFW website, “The Westchester County Office for Women officially opened in August 1980,” the same year that Hope’s Door was founded as the Northern Westchester Shelter. “The Office for Women offers women in Westchester a centralized, community-based resource that is county government mandated to address the needs of women and families. The OFW provides all kinds of information concerning women and families – domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, sexual harassment, legal issues, employment, child care, education, equal pay, financial planning, women’s health, caregiving and aging.”

Robi’s history with Hope’s Door evolved out of her deep commitment to victims of domestic violence and her friendship with Hope’s Door Executive Director, CarlLa Horton. “When Hope’s Door wanted to open a new shelter in 1997, I was involved with the elected [officials] in the area and I remember encouraging everyone to approve the proposal. That was my first connection with Hope’s Door,” she recounts. “The next year I worked for the County and served on the Domestic Violence Council as a member. CarlLa and I would sit together at the meetings and we soon became fast friends. The next thing I knew, I was helping Hope’s Door raise money. First, I organized holiday donations for the shelter residents. Really, whatever they needed help with, I just did. One year CarlLa said the budget was short by $20,000; I organized a holiday party and we raised $20,000 in that one night.“ Robi and her friends were so inspired by that successful evening, that for a number of years they took turns hosting parties to raise money for Hope’s Door. According to Robi, “after several years of this, CarlLa said to me, I think it’s time for you to be on the board.”

Robi served on the Hope’s Door Board for six years, from 2007 to 2013. “Robi Schlaff has been a dear friend to Hope’s Door and many other community-based programs addressing crimes against women and girls for at least two decades. During that time, she has championed enhanced services and improved systems for victims of domestic violence, survivors of sexual assault, abused children, and those exploited by human trafficking, among other vulnerable groups. We gratefully acknowledge her leadership,” says Hope’s Door Executive Director CarlLa Horton.

We asked Robi: what is the greatest thing any one of us can do in our daily lives to combat domestic or intimate partner violence. Her unequivocal response was simply to speak up. “Speak up,” she repeated, “There are an untenable number of people who have been killed in this County in murder/suicides – and that needs to be addressed. The question asked of people in the wake of a murder/suicide is often, is there a history of domestic violence that you know of.” Robi insists this is not the question that should be asked, and refers us to a list of questions from the Lethality Assessment Screen that is now used to determine the extent of danger that a person or family may face from an abuser.

The most important of these questions delve into whether or not the abuser has access to a gun, has threatened to kill the victim, has attempted strangulation, or is out of work or experienced some change in status. Change in status could play out as loss of job, loss of home, loss of wife, or loss of children. Any of these scenarios indicate a higher potential lethality rate for the victim.

In 2017, the Office for Women, with collaborating partners, including five Police Departments in Northern Westchester, Hope’s Door, Pace Women’s Justice Center, County Probation Office, and the Westchester County DA’s Office, was awarded a two-year, NYS grant to implement a pilot program to provide enhanced responses in domestic violence cases exhibiting high risk for lethality. This high-risk assessment team has made a significant and positive impact in the northern part of the County. Pound Ridge Chief of Police David M. Ryan says it has resulted in a significant decline in deaths. These positive outcomes, coupled with the notion that a victim’s safety should not depend on where they live, has spurred the coalition to expand throughout the County. The Westchester County Domestic Violence High Risk Team (WCDVHRT) will provide enhanced responses to all high-risk DV cases.

In addition to early prevention, high-risk assessment, and Hope’s Door programs that support victims of abuse, Robi firmly believes in trying to rehabilitate and reeducate abusers. “Programs that are long term and that focus on behavior modification can be helpful. We have one in Westchester County called APIP, a 62 week program that uses Moral Reconation Theory.” Moral Reconation Theory is a systematic treatment strategy that seeks to decrease recidivism among juvenile and adult criminal offenders by increasing moral reasoning.

“I think they’re pretty successful,” she continues, “unlike the old fashioned programs where all one had to do was show up. This program forces the abuser to confront their own behavior and see the impact of their behavior on all of their family members. It forces the abuser to really do the work.”

We wonder how someone who works so hard to lift up women, and who faces many obstacles in achieving the goal of ending domestic violence, might unwind and engage in self-care. Robi says the women in her office regularly remind one another to go to Yoga class. Robi herself finds joy in spending time with her two-year-old grandson. Since all of her children currently live near one another, she and her husband recently moved to the same neighborhood. Family time enables her to recharge and return to the important work that must be done, that “we all do together. We all support one another in the DV world. We really do respect each other and trust each other in this collaboration.”