• Welcome
• Our Mission
• Department History
• Safety Information
• CERT Program
• Emergency Preparedness for the Community
• Domestic Violence
• Education & Training
• Community Policing
• Neighborhood Watch
• Office of Health & Safety
• Equipment Registration
• Lost & Found
• Clery Act Information
• Crime Tip Line
• Law Enforcement Links
• Citizen Feedback
• Employment
• Internship
• Parking and Appeals
• Traffic and Administrative
• Chief's Corner
• Annual Report
• Survey
• Departmental SOP'S
• S.A.F.E.R / Stockton EMS
• Police K-9
• Contact Us

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) - Full Faith & Credit Provisions

Under the federal Violence Against Women Act, a victim who has a restraining order from her/his home state and flees to another state to seek safety from further abuse, may seek enforcement of the existing restraining order in the new state. The new state must provide full faith and credit to any existing restraining order or order of protection. The Family Practice Division of the Administrative Office of the Courts, the State Domestic Violence Working Group and members of its Full Faith and Credit Subcommittee, have been working diligently to ensure that a victim of domestic violence receives the protection afforded to that victim by all New Jersey Courts. Police in New Jersey are trained to recognize as valid, all out-of-state restraining orders, when a victim calls upon them. The Supreme Court's State Domestic Violence Working Group continues to meet to define and promulgate a system to validate and register or domesticate a foreign order. It is anticipated that New Jersey will have a statewide protocol established in the near future.

As part of this initiative, the Family Practice Division of the Administrative Office of the Courts, has been working closely with the Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, Wilmington, Delaware, to organize a Full Faith & Credit Conference between six states: Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia and New Jersey. The Conference is scheduled for October 1999 in Wilmington, Delaware. The goal of the Conference is to ensure that there is mutual compliance in the recognition of an out-of-state restraining order or order of protection among these six states. Ultimately, there will be national conformance to the same standards.

If you have a Domestic Violence Restraining Order or Order of Protection from another State or U.S. Territory and you now live in New Jersey or are moving to New Jersey, you have choices regarding your existing Restraining Order:

Please contact the Superior Court, Family Part, or the Domestic Violence Program
in the county where you reside or plan to reside for additional information and assistance. The telephone numbers are as follows:

Back