Safe Intake for Domestic Violence Callers: Callback and Screening Protocols

For most callers, a reminder text is a nice touch. For someone in an abusive relationship, it can be dangerous. A voicemail with your firm's name, a text that pops up on a shared tablet, or a callback answered by the wrong person can tell an abuser exactly what the caller is planning.

Small firms rarely mean to cause harm here. They just run every lead through the same process. This post lays out a safe intake protocol for domestic violence callers, from the first question to the last follow-up. Use it as a starting point and build your firm's own written version with your attorneys.

The first rule: safety comes before intake

The goal of a normal intake call is a booked consult. On these calls, the goal is that the caller stays safe and has a way to reach you. If those two ever conflict, safety wins. A half-finished intake with a safe callback plan beats a complete intake that exposes the caller.

If the caller is in immediate danger

If a caller says they're being hurt, threatened or followed right now, or that the abuser is nearby and they're afraid, don't continue the intake.

"Your safety comes first. If you're in danger right now, please hang up and call 911."

Your intake person shouldn't try to judge how serious it is. If the caller sounds afraid for their immediate safety, point them to 911.

If the line goes dead suddenly, don't call back unless the caller already told you it's safe to do so. A ringing phone can make things worse.

Ask if it's safe to talk

Ask early, especially on any family law call where the caller mentions fear, threats, a protective order or "my situation at home."

"Before we go on, is this a safe time and place for you to talk?"

"Is anyone with you or able to hear you right now?"

If the answer is no, don't push. Get just enough to reconnect safely, then end the call.

"That's okay. What's a safe number and time for us to call you back?"

Build a safe contact plan

This is the heart of the protocol. Ask every one of these and write the answers somewhere everyone at the firm will see before they contact the person.

Safe number

• "Is this the best number to reach you, or is there a safer one?"
• "Does anyone else have access to this phone or the phone account?"

Safe times

• "When is it safe for us to call? When should we never call?"

Voicemail

• "Is it okay for us to leave a voicemail? If so, what should we say?"

If voicemail isn't okay, don't leave one. If it is, keep it neutral. No firm name, no mention of divorce, custody or protective orders, unless the caller said that's fine.

"Hi, this is Sam returning your call. Please call me back when you can."

Texts

• "Is it okay for us to text you? What can the text say?"

Don't text without clear permission. Many firms send automatic confirmations and reminders. For this caller, turn those off unless they've said texts are safe, and decide together what the texts can say.

Email and mail

• "Is there a safe email address we can use?"
• "Is it safe to send anything to your home address?"

Shared email accounts, shared cloud accounts and synced devices are common. Ask before sending anything, including the retainer agreement.

Code word

• "If you answer and can't talk, what can you say so we know to hang up?"

Agree on a simple phrase, like "wrong number." If the caller says it, your staff apologize and end the call politely.

"If someone else answers when we call, we'll just ask for you by first name and won't say where we're calling from. Is that okay?"

Watch for shared phones and accounts

Abusers often monitor phones, phone plans, email, location sharing and even smart home devices. Your intake person doesn't need to be an expert in this. They just need to ask and note the answer.

• Does the other person share the phone plan or know the passcode?
• Do they share an email or cloud account?
• Could they see call logs, voicemails or texts?

If the answer to any of these is yes, mark the lead as high-risk for contact and use only the methods the caller approved.

What staff must never do

Make these rules plain and train on them.

• Never confirm to an outside caller that someone is or isn't a client, or has called the firm. Abusers sometimes call firms pretending to be the victim, a relative or a court clerk.
• Never call the number on caller ID unless the caller said it's safe.
• Never leave an identifying voicemail without permission.
• Never text without permission, including automated reminders.
• Never give advice about protective orders, leaving the home, or the children. That's the attorney's job.
• Never pressure the caller to book or to share more than they want to.

The screening questions

Once it's safe to talk, keep the intake short and focused. Collect what the attorney needs to prepare and to judge urgency.

• Name, and the safe contact plan above.
• The other person's full name, for the firm's conflict check.
• Is there a protective or restraining order in place, or a pending request?
• Any upcoming court dates?
• Are there children involved? Where are they now?
• Is there a divorce or custody case already open?
• Is there a related criminal case, as far as they know?
• What are they hoping the attorney can help with?

Note what they tell you in their words. Don't ask for graphic details. The attorney will get what they need in a safer, private setting.

When the caller asks what they should do:

"I can't give legal advice, but I'm going to get this to an attorney quickly. I've noted that your situation may be urgent."

Share the hotline

Every intake person should be able to give out the National Domestic Violence Hotline without looking it up. Advocates there can help with safety planning, which is outside what a law firm's intake desk does.

"If it helps, the National Domestic Violence Hotline can talk with you about safety planning. You can call 800-799-7233, text START to 88788, or chat at thehotline.org."

Link: The National Domestic Violence Hotline. Their site also has a quick exit button and notes that internet use can be monitored, which is worth mentioning if the caller plans to look it up on a shared device.

An AI agent should hand these calls to a person

If your firm uses an AI agent to answer calls, these calls are the clearest case for a handoff. An AI agent can do some things well here. It answers when nobody else would, stays calm, and asks the safety questions the same way every time. But a person should take over as soon as there's any sign of abuse or danger.

Set it up so the agent:

• Tells a caller in immediate danger to call 911.
• Asks whether it's safe to talk and gets a safe callback number and time.
• Does not send automated texts or reminders unless the caller approved them.
• Routes the call to a person at the firm right away, following the firm's written protocol.

More on where that line sits in when callers need a person and can AI handle distressed callers?

Write your protocol down

Your team shouldn't have to make this up on a live call. A one-page protocol should cover:

1. The safety question and when to ask it.
2. The 911 line for immediate danger.
3. The safe contact plan fields, stored where everyone checks before contacting a lead.
4. How to turn off automated texts and reminders for a lead.
5. Who gets escalated to, how fast, and what happens after hours.
6. The hotline information.
7. The rules on never confirming client status.

Review it with your attorneys at least once a year, and walk new hires through it on day one. For the broader emotional side of family law calls, see how to handle emotional callers at a family law firm.

Where IntakeGenius fits

Most intake systems treat every lead the same, which is exactly the problem with these calls. When we set up IntakeGenius for a family law firm, we work through your domestic violence protocol with you: the safety questions the agent asks, who it routes the call to at your firm, and how contact preferences in IntakeCRM control what gets sent. A person at your firm still owns these calls.

If you'd like to talk through how that would work at your firm, request a demo. It's 15 minutes, no slides.