DCL-9884 Informational Papers on Domestic Violence

DCL-98-84 Aug 14, 1998

TO ALL IV-D DIRECTORS

Re: Informational Papers on Domestic Violence

Dear Colleague:

Attached please find two papers from the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRC) that may be helpful to you as you implement the family violence indicator and safeguarding of information provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 (PRWORA).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded the NRC in the development of the papers, and staff from OCSE, TANF, the Office of Community Services (OCS), and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) served in an advisory capacity to the NRC in the drafting and writing of them.

The papers provide information on what constitutes domestic violence, safety strategies for battered women, universal notification/screening for battered women, development of domestic violence protocols, approaches to staffing offices to handle domestic violence, and safety issues. We urge you to read them in the context of other Dear Colleague Letters on this issue that we have issued to you over the past several years including DCL-98-39 on Washington State's Address Confidentiality Program,

DCL-97-90 on State Cooperation/Good Cause Practices post-PRWORA, and

DCL-96-56 that contained reference material such as the phone numbers for State domestic violence coalitions and other domestic violence organizations.

For further information please contact OCSE's domestic violence liaison, Susan Notar at (202) 401-4606, or the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence at 1-800-537-2238. Thank you for your work on behalf of the nation's children.

Sincerely,

David Gray Ross

Commissioner

Office of Child Support Enforcement