Impact for Domestic Violence Survivors
House Bill 31: No Publication for Name Changes
Description
The 2023 Legislative Session passed House Bill 31 No Publication for Name Changes reducing the burden and barrier of publication for individuals seeking to change their names. The impact for survivors of domestic violence can be life-changing, allowing survivors to create a new start, new identity, and reduce the potential for future violence. However, much as abusive partners use orders of protection as an abusive tactic, there are ways this positive legislation may be used as an abusive tactic as well. Advocacy is the key to working with survivors to safety plan against these tactics.
Objectives
Participants will leave with a working knowledge of House Bill 31 No Publication for Name Changes.
Participants will learn ways to assist survivors who may benefit from the changes made in the No Publication for Name Changes law.
Through active participation advocates will develop skills to assist survivors in safety planning and informed advocacy to avoid unintended abusive tactics with this legislation.
Facilitators
MaryEllen Garcia has worked in New Mexico’s network of survivor services for over 20 years. Most recently she spent the past ten years as the Grants Bureau Chief for the New Mexico Crime Victims Reparation Commission, administering state funds to support survivor services, as well as federal funds from VOCA Victim Assistance, STOP VAWA, SASP, and other federal discretionary awards.
Prior to her work with the Commission, Ms. Garcia administered discretionary grants from the Office on Violence Against Women for the State of New Mexico including projects that developed best practices for access, issuance, and enforcement of orders of protection and a statewide domestic/dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, strangulation, and child victimization project.
She started her career in victim services as a volunteer with a non-profit law enforcement-based victim advocate program. She worked as a crisis negotiator for law enforcement and developed a law enforcement Crisis Outreach and Support Team, focused on providing access to families whose loved ones are experiencing mental illness.
Ms. Garcia has worked on several projects at the state, local and national levels to improve the provision of services for survivors of crime. She has worked and collaborated with the VERA Institute, the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, Casa de Esperanza, the Women of Color Network, the Office on Violence Against Women, the Office for Victims of Crime, and numerous other state and national programs
She sat on the national board of Violence Against Women Administrators as the President and often mentors other states in the administration of their federal funding. She has worked with governmental and non-governmental victim service agencies around the state either in training, providing services, development of best practices in serving victims, program development, and leadership within New Mexico.
Ida Aguirre was born in El Paso, TX but raised in Sunland Park, NM. She moved to Las Cruces, NM as a teenager where she graduated from Las Cruces High…GO BULLDAWGS! After taking some time off of college, she returned in 2007, and graduated from NMSU in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and 2 minors (Spanish and Security Technology). She started working at La Casa in 2005. While at La Casa, she worked as a receptionist, intake worker for Batterers Intervention Program (BIP), BIP facilitator, Assistant Shelter Manager, and also some case management. She was also at DASO (Dona Ana Sheriff’s Office) for close to 10 years and eventually was rehired back at La Casa part-time as a BIP Facilitator. She did BIP groups for 9 total years and in 2021, she was offered a job as Support Services Assistant Director, at La Casa, Inc. which led to her leaving DASO. She was asked to join the Family Peace Initiative Family out of Topeka, Kansas as a co-facilitator for their BIP groups in October of 2020 and still continues to do groups, one of which was the first Spanish group the organization offered. She was also contracted with NMCADV as one of the Core Advocacy Trainers but as of May 16, 2022, she officially became a full-time staff member with NMCADV as Program Support Specialist!
She is a mother of 3 GREAT kids and have been in a relationship with her childhood sweetheart for over 9 years. She also loves to dance and play volleyball, draw, paint, photography, and spend time with friends.