Emergency Shelter: A battered woman is often in serious danger. MAWS provides a safe, confidential refuge for battered women and children. Shelter staff help women evaluate their options and future plans. Medical assistance, food and clothing, support groups, children's services, parenting groups, housing assistance, child care and transportation is provided to shelter residents. MAWS' emergency shelter opened in 1978, and is staffed by trained Family Advocate staff who implement a range of support services to help residents begin the process of transitioning to independent, violence-free lives, and obtain permanent housing. MAWS' Second Step is a short-term secure transitional living facility for battered women and their children from Marin County and throughout the Bay Area. The 10-unit facility was opened in 1983 and provides a communal room for support meetings, potluck dinners, an art room for children's activities, and an outdoor area with a play structure. MAWS is the only organization in Marin County that provides transitional housing coupled with support programs for battered women and their children. Second Step was one of the first such programs of its type in the nation which provides battered women the needed time to rebuild their lives and the support to obtain the resources to achieve economic independence. Second Step support services include weekly practical and emotional groups to help women remain free from abuse and establish independent lives. MAWS' Family Advocate staff provide crisis intervention, help with referrals to numerous social, legal, and medical agencies. Family Advocates also work with residents to develop and implement a self-sufficiency plan for economic independence.