About Us

It is the mission of New Life Advocacy to educate victims of domestic violence about the family court process and how to safely and quickly move through the complicated family court system to receive a just and safe order from the court, so that they can start a new life free from violence.

In 1992 Karol Sikie and Susan Iten co-founded New Life Advocacy, a non-profit agency in Los Angeles, California. New Life Advocacy’s mission is to educate, advocate and empower victims of domestic violence with children, who are litigants in the family court system.

Karol and Susan met while they were studying Sign Language/Interpreter Training at El Camino College. They became friends because they realized that they had many things in common. Each had a parent born in Hungary; both had one older brother, were married with children, devoted to their family, and loved animals. They also wanted to volunteer for a domestic violence shelter.

They volunteered their time by teaching an Employment Readiness workshop, which included make-up techniques and how to dress for a job interview. During this time the shelter residents reiterated that they needed assistance with restraining orders and did not know what to do in court. At that time the specialized field of family court advocacy for battered women did not exist. So Karol and Susan went into the trenches in family and criminal court to learn the laws, the processes, policies and procedures.

Armed with knowledge and a passion for justice, they founded New Life Advocacy. Karol Sikie became Executive Director and Susan Iten assumed the role of Program Coordinator. Together this dynamic duo has provided their unique Family Court Advocacy Program to over 3,000 victims of domestic violence and has accumulated 2800 hours of court time. Through New Life Advocacy’s Family Court Advocacy Training Program, they have trained and certified over 400 domestic violence service providers from every county in California.