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8.2 FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAM

Program Description, Content, Legislative Intent, and Broad Program Goals

The Family Violence Prevention and Services Program (FVPSP) is responsible for the administration and oversight of a number of activities pertaining to family violence. A primary focus of the program is to assist States and Indian Tribes in responding to and preventing family violence. To that end, the FVPSP allocates funds to support the provision of immediate shelter and related assistance for victims of family violence and their dependents. Funding is also allocated to carry out coordination, research, training, technical assistance, and clearinghouse activities.

The Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) was enacted as Title III of the Child Abuse Amendments of 1984, and reauthorized and amended for FY 1995 through FY 2000 by the Violent Crime Control and Law Empowerment Act of 1994 (the Crime Bill). The increase in FY 2001 funding for the Family Violence initiative provided an expansion of services, particularly to under-served populations, and increased support for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

With each amendment of the legislation, the FVPSP responsibilities have grown. In addition to overseeing State and Tribal activities, the FVPSP is responsible for administering grant programs for State domestic violence coalitions carrying out similar technical assistance and prevention efforts. Moreover, the program establishes and provides ongoing support for the Domestic Violence Resource Network, which includes the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, four special issue resource centers, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

"Family violence" is a broad term, encompassing all forms of violence within the context of family or intimate relationships, including domestic violence, child abuse and elder abuse. A primary focus of the FVPSP has been to support intervention and prevention targeting domestic violence, or violence and abuse between adult intimate partners. Most commonly, domestic violence involves the abuse of a female by a male partner or ex-partner. Domestic violence is an issue of increasing concern because of its far-reaching and negative effects on all family members, including children. The FVPSP has also been concerned about the intersection between domestic violence and child abuse within families and with abuse of women in later life, and has provided funding for several collaborative initiatives to increase our knowledge and improve our intervention and response efforts.

Domestic violence is not confined to any one socioeconomic, ethnic, religious, racial, or age group, and occurs in rural, urban and Tribal communities. It is the leading cause of injury to women in the United States, where they are more likely to be assaulted, injured, raped or killed by a male partner than by any other type of assailant. Statistics show that 29 percent of all violence against women by a single offender is committed by an intimate-a husband, ex-husband, boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend. Accurate information on the extent of domestic violence is difficult to obtain because of extensive under-reporting. However, it is estimated that in this country between one and four million women are abused to the point of injury by a male partner or ex-partner each year. About one-fourth of all hospital emergency room visits by women are the result of domestic assaults.

This violence takes a devastating toll on children who are exposed to its cruelty. Between three and four million children witness parental violence every year. Children whose mothers are victims of wife battery are twice as likely to be abused themselves as those children whose mothers are not victims of abuse. When children witness violence in the home, they have been found to suffer many of the symptoms experienced by children who are directly abused.

Program Activities, Strategies and Resources

State and Tribal Programs: The FVPSP State and Tribal grants program authorized by Section 303 of the FVPSA is the primary Federal mechanism for encouraging State, Tribal and local support for implementing, maintaining, and expanding programs and projects to prevent family violence. FVPSP funds continue to supplement many already established community-based family violence prevention and services activities. In particular, these funds have been instrumental in promoting and supporting the development of services in rural and other under-served areas.

During the past decade, there has been tremendous expansion in the number of grants to Indian Tribes. The impetus for growth came with a legislative amendment, which set forth the mandatory allocation of funding for Indian programs, rather than funding of such programs at the discretion of the Secretary of DHHS. The number of grantees has nearly tripled over the last decade from 64 Tribes when the legislation was first enacted.

The FVPS programs on Tribal trust lands and reservations are in the process of evolving towards a more stable and comprehensive set of activities. As the FVPSP supports the development of staff capacity among the Tribal grantees, ACF has been able to identify the need to enhance both service delivery and information compilation techniques. There are several activities underway in an attempt to improve Tribal reporting of family violence intervention and prevention activities. For example, ACF has the assistance of a newly-funded resource center that provides comprehensive technical assistance, support and training to Tribes, Native American communities, and advocates working with Indian women. This Center has begun working directly with Tribes receiving FVPSP grants both in the collection of data for reporting purposes and to assist them in administering their programs.

Through the FVPSP, State agencies, Indian Tribes, and Tribal organizations receive grants for the provision of emergency shelter services to domestic violence victims and their families. In addition, funds may be used for related services, such as alcohol and substance abuse prevention, counseling related to family violence, legal assistance through civil and criminal courts, childcare services for children who are victims of family violence, and other prevention-focused activities.

Discretionary Program and Activities: Each fiscal year, FVPSP discretionary funding supports public agencies and nonprofit organizations in establishing, maintaining, and expanding programs and projects to prevent incidents of family violence and provide immediate shelter and related assistance to victims and their families. Discretionary funding is typically limited to applicants who specify goals and objectives having national and local relevance. Moreover, the programs must demonstrate applicability to the coordination efforts of national, Tribal, State and community-based organizations.

During the past several years, priority funding areas have included: Public Information/ Community Awareness grants; stipends to Historically Black, Hispanic-serving, and Tribal Colleges and Universities; grants to support Domestic Violence/Child Protective Services Collaborations; grants to develop demonstration training models for improved access and legal representation; grants to develop services for immigrant, migrant, and refugee battered women; grants to develop strategies for effective response to domestic violence issues within the context of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) Program; and grants to improve health care response to domestic violence.

The FVPSP has also implemented several initiatives to facilitate and improve its outreach, information gathering, and service response to under-served communities. Such initiatives include the mobilization of researchers, academicians, and practitioners around issues of family violence that impact these particular communities. These efforts have resulted in the development of the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, the National Latino Alliance, the Women of Color Network, and the Asian American Institute on Domestic Violence.

Domestic Violence Resource Network: The Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRNetwork) was established in 1993 as part of the 1992 amendments to the FVPSA. The FVPSP initially provided funding for the development and operation of a National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and three special issue resource centers - the Battered Women's Justice Project (focusing on civil and criminal justice issues), the Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence, and the Resource Center on Domestic Violence: Child Protection and Child Custody. In 1997, funding was made available to establish a fourth special issue resource center focusing on the technical assistance and training needs of Tribes and Native American communities.

Prior to the establishment of the DVRNetwork, there were no national organizations dedicated specifically to providing training, technical assistance and policy analysis to help domestic violence practitioners and other professionals improve their approaches to working with victims or perpetrators of domestic violence. Each resource center, operated by established organizations with demonstrated expertise in domestic violence policy and practice issues, partners with community-based domestic violence programs, State domestic violence coalitions, Federal, State, and local government agencies, Indian Tribal organizations, policy makers, researchers, and others to identify and respond to emerging information and technical assistance gaps.

While each resource center is charged with a specific domestic violence subject area, members of the DVRNetwork have always worked in partnership to ensure that domestic violence-related training and technical assistance throughout the country is complementary, comprehensive, appropriate, and informed by the entire network. These member resource centers work collaboratively to identify gaps in policy and services and to develop strategies for addressing these gaps. In addition to providing toll-free access to technical assistance pertaining to its subject area, other services include training, policy analysis and development, identification of model programs, development of policies and publications, and assistance to Federal and State agencies on a full range of policy and practice issues.

National Domestic Violence Hotline: In 1995, ACF sought applications to operate its National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH), under authorization of Section 316 of FVPSA. The NDVH became operational in 1996 as a project of the Texas Council on Family Violence and serves as a critical partner in the prevention and resource assistance efforts of the DVRNetwork.

The toll-free, 24-hour NDVH provides:

• Crisis intervention to help callers identify problems and possible solutions, including development of emergency safety plans;
• Information about sources of assistance for individuals and their families, friends, and employers wanting to learn more about domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, intervention programs for batterers, criminal and civil justice system issues, and other critical concerns; and
• Referrals to battered women's shelters and programs, social services agencies, legal programs, and other groups and organizations willing to help.

In an effort to assess the effectiveness of the Hotline, ACF funded two studies to evaluate the Hotline's progress and activities. The first, funded in 1996, a 6-month review of the Hotline yielded an impact assessment of the Hotline, an analysis of the Hotline's information systems, feedback from the Hotline workers, and plans for future Hotline research. The second included a 4-day site visit and follow-up interviews which identified the strengths of the Hotline and noted areas where change is needed to foster growth and development in key areas such as databases, research, and organizational growth.

Program-wide Performance

It should be noted that many Tribal grantees and Alaskan native villages funded through the FVPSP are constrained in their program development efforts and service delivery activities by the extreme distances between service facilities, isolation in rural areas, and the constant turnover in program staff. The performance goal for FY 2000 was to increase the participation of Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and Alaskan Native Villages by 45 percent from 120 in FY 1996 to 174. During FY 2000, ACF exceeded the program goal by funding 187 Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, or Alaskan Native Villages to establish family violence prevention and service programs. Through the 187 Tribes and Alaskan villages funded by FVPSP in FY 2000, there is a network of safehouses, Tribal-run shelters and related assistance services for family violence victims and their dependents (measure 8.2a).

The Hotline is committed to meeting the needs of diverse communities and provides bilingual Spanish-English staff, text telephones for callers who are hearing impaired, access to translators in 139 languages, and materials in a variety of languages and formats. The Hotline first began responding to calls in late February 1996 and currently receives an average of 11,000 calls per month from throughout the U.S. and its territories (measure 8.2b). The majority of these calls are from domestic violence victims themselves. Since the opening of the Hotline on February 21, 1996 to September 30, 2000, the Hotline has answered 524,758 calls.

Program Coordination, Partnerships and Crosscutting Issues

ACF recognizes that coordination and collaboration at the local level among the police, prosecutors, the courts, victim services providers, child welfare and family preservation services, TANF agencies, and medical and mental health providers are necessary to create a more responsive network of protections and supports for families dealing with domestic violence. To help develop a more comprehensive and integrated service delivery approach, ACF is assisting State agencies and Indian Tribes receiving funds under FVPSP to coordinate planning activities with new and existing State, local, and private sector agencies.

State Domestic Violence Coalitions: In FY 1993, the FVPSP began administering grants to statewide private nonprofit domestic violence coalitions to conduct activities that promote domestic violence intervention and prevention and increase public awareness of domestic violence issues. Some areas of focus for State coalitions include developing data systems, advocacy, statewide planning efforts, administration, direct services, public awareness and community education. Needs assessment and planning activities conducted by coalitions are designed to document gaps in current response and prevention efforts and help guide future endeavors. FVPSP funding also enables State coalitions to provide technical assistance to State agencies and organizations on policy and practice related to domestic violence intervention and prevention, as well as ongoing training and support to local domestic violence programs, many of whom receive State-allocated FVPSA funds. By funding these types of State coalition activities, the FVPSP demonstrates its commitment to inclusive, broad-based planning at the State and local levels.

Data Issues

Current and available data sources and informational systems are inadequate to accurately report on information, resource development and support services in place to assist victims of domestic violence. As indicated earlier, ACF is continuing to discuss the development of a voluntary aggregate data reporting system for the family violence program with its State and local partners. Moreover, in collaboration with other Federal agencies and State and local partners, ACF has begun to establish a typology of domestic violence services acceptable to all organizations and agencies in the field. These efforts have been supplemented by discussions through the resource center network related to responsibly documenting the impact of efforts at the local, state and national levels.

It is expected that by the end of fiscal year 2002, 50 percent of the States and 30 percent of the Tribes will have received survey methodology training and technical assistance in order to conduct assessments on the adequacy of the resource and services plan and the appropriateness of the measures being developed by the DOW workgroup to track performance.

Summary Table

Performance Measures		Targets		Actual Performance	Reference (page # in printed document)
PROGRAM GOAL : Build healthy, safe and supportive communities and Tribes that increase the ability of family violence victims to plan for safety.
Objective: Support programs to provide immediate shelter and related assistance for victims of family violence and their dependents.
8.2a. Increase the number of Federally recognized Indian Tribes that have family violence prevention programs.		FY 02: 205 FY 01: 189 FY 00: 174 FY 99: 162		FY 02: FY 01: FY 00: 187 FY 99: 174Ö FY 98: 174 FY 96: 120	Px M-145
PROGRAM GOAL: Ensure that victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, their family and friends, and others interested in their safety and support, have a source of comprehensive and timely information, crisis services, and assistance.
8.2b. Increase the capacity of the National Domestic Violence Hotline to receive and respond to an increase in the average number of calls per month.		FY 02:11,500 FY 01:11,000* FY 00: New in 2001 FY 99: NA		FY 02: FY 01 FY 00: 11,000 FY 99: 11,000 FY 98: 8,000	Px M-146
8.2c. Build the capacity of the National Domestic Violence Hotline to receive and respond to calls from sexual assault victims/survivors and their family/friends(developmental).		FY 02: FY 01: NA FY 00: NA FY 99: NA		FY 02:	Px M-146
FY 1999 data that were not available when the FY 1999 report was submitted with the FY 2001 CJ *This target for measure 8.2b was increased from 10,000 to 11,000 based on FY 2000 actual performance.
Total Funding (dollars in millions) See detailed Budget Linkage Table in Appendix 6 for line items included in funding totals.	FY 02: $119.1 FY 01: $119.1 FY 00: $103.5 FY 99: $ 90.5		Bx: budget just. section H Px: page # performance plan

Performance Measures for FY 2002 and Final Measures for FY 2001

The Family Violence Program has initiated several efforts designed to assist in developing performance indicators and outcome measures for the various programs and activities funded with FVPSA funds. There is currently considerable variation in the type and comparability of data reported by State and Tribal grantees, as well as from State coalitions and discretionary grantees. This is in part because of the tremendous variation in the types of services and activities funded within each State or locality, given other Federal, State and local funding that might also be available, as well as the varying reporting capacity of grantees to provide extensive data. This FVPSP effort will be accomplished in collaboration with the States, State domestic violence coalitions, the national resource center network, and Federal-level partners to reach consensus.

Specifically, these efforts include the funding of the Documenting Our Work project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, which formed a national working group and completed an extensive number of focus group conference calls to assist in the building of common, but sufficiently inclusive, definitions of the "services" provided by local domestic violence programs and State domestic violence coalitions. These efforts are focused on capturing the impact of services on diverse communities and individuals; initiating a review of the current data elements reported by States to identify those that can be considered baseline; and participating in the Federal agency workgroup exploring the feasibility of developing a standardized Federal reporting form for all victim assistance programs (Violence Against Women Office, Office for Victims of Crime, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and FVPSP) which often provide direct or indirect funding to the same agencies.

The "Documenting our Work" (DOW) workgroup is continuing the process of identifying and agreeing on a full range of performance indicators and outcome measures. We anticipate a report with recommendations regarding performance and outcomes by the fourth quarter of FY 2001. The reporting of services provided by shelters is a part of the DOW workgroup's effort. This compilation of reporting services was provided to ACF in March 2001.

The following program performance goals have been developed in two program areas where sufficient data is available to track performance: Tribal program development and the NDVH.

PROGRAM GOAL: Build healthy, safe and supportive communities and Tribes that increase the ability of family violence victims to plan for safety.

Objective: Support programs to provide immediate shelter and related assistance for victims of family violence and their dependents.

8.2a. FY 2001: Increase to 189 (from 174 in 1999) the number of Federally recognized Indian Tribes that have family violence prevention programs.

FY 2002: Increase to 205 (from 189 in 2001) the number of Federally recognized Indian Tribes that have family violence prevention programs.

(NOTE: There are 540 such Tribes; the target is for 35% to have some form of prevention service by FY 2002.)

ACF will provide technical assistance and information to 25 percent of the States and 10 percent of the Indian Tribes aimed at increasing the number of Indian Tribes that sponsor family violence prevention programs. A collaborative planning effort among the national resource center networks, the national domestic violence hotline, and selected State domestic violence coalitions will sponsor technical assistance and information activity for States (25 percent) and Tribes (10 percent) as an ongoing long-term commitment for this targeted initiative. ACF will remove barriers to work for victims of domestic violence and will provide States and Indian Tribes information on program models, best practices and services information to enhance the ability for Tribes to operate quality programs.

PROGRAM GOAL: Ensure that victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, their family and friends, and others interested in their safety and support, have a source of comprehensive and timely information, crisis services, and assistance.

8.2b. FY 2001: Increase the capacity of the National Domestic Violence Hotline to receive and respond to an average of 11,000 calls per month throughout FY 2001.

FY 2002: Increase the capacity of the National Domestic Violence Hotline to receive and respond to an average of 11,500 calls per month throughout FY 2002.

The Hotline currently maintains an average of 22 full and part-time Hotline Advocates, approximately 20 relief, and 30 volunteer advocates. The Advocates ensure that the Hotline is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The biggest challenge to the Hotline continues to be staffing. To adequately respond to the more than 10,000 calls a month requires a minimum of the staff identified above. Staff resources are at times limited due to turnover, work schedules, compensation and the competition with better paying jobs in the local area of the Hotline. Achieving an average of 11,500 calls per month in FY 2002 will be affected by these limitations.

8.2c. FY 2001: Build the capacity of the National Domestic Violence Hotline to receive and respond to calls from sexual assault victims/survivors and their family/friends (Developmental).

FY 2002: Build the capacity of the National Domestic Violence Hotline to receive and respond to calls from sexual assault victims/survivors and their family/friends (Developmental).

In FY 2000-2001, funding was provided for the NDVH to provide responses to sexual assault as well as domestic violence calls. ACF planning a number of activities to be able to differentiate and track increases of callers related to sexual assault and domestic violence and measure the impact (both programmatically and organizationally) of these expanded services. The Hotline currently responds to sexual assault calls as part of its on-going operation. We are unable to report the number of sexual assault calls as callers are not required to identify themselves or provide reasons for why they are calling. In the process of active listening, the advocates have recognized that some of the calls are sexual assault calls. The Hotline has not recorded the number of sexual assault calls since the number would be inaccurate and misleading. We are currently developing training for the advocates on ways to appropriately respond to callers who have identified themselves as victims of sexual assault including rape and other abuses (past and current). The proposed training is scheduled for FY 2001 and will provide advocates with a structured manner and basis to respond to and report the calls.

 

 

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