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Part II: Program Description and Performance Analysis
7.2 FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION
| Request, Full Costs, & Annual Measures ($ in millions) |
FY 2003 | FY 2004 | FY 2005 |
| Budget Request (Program Level) | $129.0 | $128.6 |
$128.6 |
| Estimated Full Cost | $130.5 | $130.2 | $130.3 |
Program Goal: Increase Safety Incorporates measure: FY 2003-2005: |
|||
| 7.2a Tribes - Family Violence Prevention & Support (10%): | $13.0 | $13.0 | $13.0 |
| 7.2b, & b.1 Domestic Violence Hotline (2.33%): | $3.0 | $3.0 | $3.0 |
* The distribution of full costs to performance measures may not equal the full cost of the performance program area.
ALLOCATION METHODOLOGY EXPLANATION: Performance measures represent 10% (Tribes with family viol. prev. programs) and 2.33% (domestic viol. hotline) of full cost of program. Family Violence Shelters and Prevention Services provided to states and territories were not included.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND CONTEXT
The purpose of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) is to assist states and Indian Tribes in their efforts to respond to and prevent family violence. ACF’s Family Violence Prevention and Services Program (FVPSP) is responsible for the administration and oversight of a number of activities pertaining to family violence. FVPSA 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 was enacted as title III of the Child Abuse Amendments of 1984, and was reauthorized and amended most recently by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 (Pub. L 108-36).
With each amendment of the legislation, the FVPSA responsibilities have grown. In addition to overseeing state and Tribal activities, the FVPSA administers grant programs for state domestic violence coalitions carrying out technical assistance, training and prevention efforts. Moreover, the FVPSA provides ongoing support for the Domestic Violence Resource Network, which now includes the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, four special issue resource centers, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
Program Partnerships
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 facilitate a more responsive network of protection and support for families dealing with domestic violence. To help develop a more comprehensive and integrated services delivery approach, HHS urges state agencies and Indian Tribes receiving funds under FVPSA to coordinate planning activities with new and existing state, local, and private sector agencies.
PROGRAM PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
| Performance Measures | Targets | Actual Performance | Reference (Relevant Strategic Goal in the HHS Strategic Plan) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | |||
| 7.2a.
Increase the number of Federally recognized Indian Tribes that have
family violence prevention programs.
% of Full Cost |
FY
05: 205 FY 04: 200 FY 03: 195 FY 02: 190 FY 01: 189 FY 00: 174 FY 99: 162 |
FY
05: FY 04: FY 03: 180 FY 02: 184 FY 01: 181 FY 00: 187 FY 99: 174 FY 98: 174 |
HHS 1.6 |
| 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. | |||
| 7.2b. Increase through training the capacity of the National Domestic Violence Hotline to respond to an increase in the average number and the type of calls per month. | FY
05: 14,500 FY 04: 12,500 FY 03: 12,000 FY 02: 11,500 FY 01: 11,000 FY 00: NA |
FY
05: FY 04: FY 03: 14,000 FY 02: 12,500 FY 01: 13,800 FY 00: 11,000 FY 99: 11,000 FY 98: 8,000 |
HHS 1.6 |
| 7.2b.1.
Increase the amount of training hours provided to advocates to handle
sexual assault calls. (Combined with above measure in FY 2004)
% of Full Cost |
FY 2003: 192 | FY 2003: 111 | HHS 1.6 |
| 7.2c. Shorten the response time to provide needed information to callers. [E] (Developmental) | FY 05: NA | HHS 1.6
EFFICIENCY MEASURE |
|
| Total
Funding (dollars in millions)
See detailed Budget Linkage Table in Appendix A-12 for line items included in funding totals. |
FY 05: $128.6 FY 04: $128.6 |
||
Summary of Program Performance
Of the two measures for which FY 2003 data exist, one target was met and one was not. We exceeded the target to increase, through training, the capacity of the National Domestic Violence Hotline to respond to an increase in the average number and the type of calls per month. However, we did not meet the target to increase the number of Federally recognized Indian Tribes that have family violence prevention programs.
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. The primary focus of the FVPSA has been supporting intervention and prevention efforts 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, current or former spouse, or date. Domestic violence is an issue of increasing concern because of its far-reaching and negative effects on all family members, including children. 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. Nearly 30 percent of all violence against women by a single offender is committed by an intimate – a husband (3.4 percent), ex-husband (1.6 percent), boyfriend/ex-boyfriend/well-known-to-victim (24.6 percent).
Estimates from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) indicate that the number of female victims declined from 1993 to 1998. In 1998 women experienced about 900,000 violent offenses at the hands of an intimate, down from 1.1 million in 1993. Estimates from a compilation of data maintained by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on violence and reported in March of 1998 showed a similar decline in the number of victimizations experienced by women at the hands of an intimate partner. Data on the rates of intimate partner violence considered by age category indicate that from 1993 to 1998, women ages 16 to 24 experienced the highest per capita rates of intimate partner violence (19.6 per 1,000 women).
Accurate information on the extent of domestic violence is difficult to obtain because of extensive under-reporting. Using the above estimates as evidence of reported incidence, domestic violence experts project that each year in this country between one and four million women are abused to the point of injury by a male partner or ex-partner. About one-fourth of all hospital emergency room visits by women result from domestic assaults.
The National Violence Against Women (NVAW) reports that rates of intimate partner violence vary significantly among women and men of diverse racial backgrounds. Results from the NVAW Survey in July 2000 indicate that African American and American Indian/Alaska Native women and men report more violent victimization than do women and men of other racial backgrounds. The survey also found that Asian/Pacific Islander women and men tend to report lower rates of intimate partner violence than do women and men of other minority backgrounds. In response to these findings, several initiatives have been implemented through FVPSA to facilitate and improve its outreach, information gathering, and service response to under-served communities including mobilizing researchers, academicians, and practitioners to focus on issues of family violence that affect these communities. These efforts resulted in the creation of the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, the National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Family Violence (Alianza), the Women of Color Network, and the Asian American Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence.
This violence takes a devastating toll on children who are exposed to its cruelty. Three to four million children witness parental violence every year. Children whose mothers are victims of wife battery are twice as likely to be abused 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 same symptoms experienced by children who are directly abused.
The FVPSA components include state and Tribal Programs, State Domestic Violence Coalitions, Discretionary Program and activities, the Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRNetwork), and the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH).
State and Tribal Programs: The FVPSA State and Tribal grants program authorized by Section 303 of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act serves as the primary Federal mechanism for encouraging state, Tribal, and local support for implementing, maintaining, and expanding programs and projects to prevent family violence. FVPSA funds continue to supplement many already established community-based family violence prevention services. These funds have been instrumental in promoting and supporting the development of services in rural and other under-served areas.
State Domestic Violence Coalitions: The FVPSA grants are awarded to statewide private nonprofit domestic violence coalitions to conduct activities that promote domestic violence prevention and intervention and increase public awareness of domestic violence issues. Needs assessment and planning activities conducted by coalitions are designed to document gaps in current response and prevention efforts and help guide future endeavors. FVPSA funding enables state coalitions to provide technical assistance to state agencies and organizations on policy and practice related to domestic violence intervention and prevention and training and support to local domestic violence programs, many of which receive state allocated FVPSA funds.
Discretionary Program and Activities: Each fiscal year, FVPSA 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.
There are more than 2,000 domestic violence shelters and safe-houses in the United States that provide emergency shelter and intervention services for victims of domestic violence and their dependents. Shelters vary in size, preferred location, range and scope of services offered to clients, and in physical capacity. Physical capacity may dictate shelter operations and whom they serve. All domestic violence shelters provide a core set of services that include: physical shelter for the protection and safety of the victim and children; crisis intervention hotline services; individual and group counseling; and information and referral services.
The Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRNetwork): The DVRNetwork was established in 1993 as part of the 1992 amendments to the FVPSA. The FVPSA 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 (The Sacred Circle) focusing on the technical assistance and training needs of Tribes and Native American communities.
Data Issues: Through the Documenting Our Work project, the family violence program has initiated several efforts designed to assist in developing performance indicators and outcome measures for the various programs and activities supported with FVPSA funds. This activity is being piloted in several states. There is considerable variation in the type and comparability of program information and data reported by state and Tribal grantees, state coalitions and discretionary grantees. This is due, in part, to the variation in services and activities funded within each state or locality, the availability of other Federal, state, and local funding,, as well as the varying reporting capacity of grantees to provide extensive data. States, state domestic violence coalitions, the national resource center network, and Federal-level partners are working to reach consensus on selected outcome measures.
Support for the Documenting Our Work project is provided by the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRC). The NRC formed a working group and conducted extensive conference calls with focus groups to assist in building common and sufficiently inclusive definitions of “services” provided by local domestic violence programs.
- Documentation and Self-Assessment tools for domestic violence programs
have been developed and are in the process of being pilot tested by
over 25 programs in 5 states. Data and feedback already received from
these pilot tests is being analyzed.
- Documentation and Self-Assessment tools for state domestic violence
coalitions are being finalized and will be pilot tested in at least
5 states during the summer of 2003.
- The first draft of the paper Understanding the Impact of Our Work: Vision, Philosophy, and Challenges has been reviewed and comments are being incorporated. Completion scheduled for late 2003.
Measure by Measure Presentation of Performance
The following program performance goals have been developed in two program areas that have sufficient data available to track performance: Tribal program development and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
PROGRAM GOAL: Build healthy, safe and supportive communities and Tribes that increase the ability of family violence victims to plan for their safety.
Objective: Support programs to provide immediate shelter and related assistance for victims of family violence and their dependents.
| 7.2a | Increase the number of federally recognized
Indian Tribes that have family violence prevention programs. Data Source: Administrative Data |
The FVPSA program provided technical assistance and information to the states and Indian Tribes to increase the number of Indian Tribes that sponsor family violence prevention programs. A collaborative effort among the national resource center network and selected state domestic violence coalitions will provide this technical assistance. Over the past decade, the number of grants to Indian Tribes for preventing family violence has increased. However, in FY 2003, the number of grants decreased slightly from the previous year. This decrease was the result of delayed publication of the program announcement. While the technical assistance effort attracted additional Tribal grantees to the FVPSA program during FY 2003, staff turnover and failure to submit applications continue to negatively affect this measure. Technical assistance will continue to be provided to all Alaskan Native and Native American grantees.
The FVPSA programs on Tribal trust lands and reservations are developing a more stable and comprehensive set of activities. Several activities are underway to improve Tribal reporting of family violence intervention and prevention services. ACF has the assistance of a newly-funded resource center, Sacred Circle, which provides comprehensive technical assistance, support and training to Tribes, Native American communities, and advocates working with Indian women. Sacred Circle is working with Tribes receiving FVPSA grants to improve data collection for reporting purposes and to assist them in administering their programs.
PROGRAM GOAL: Ensure that victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, their families and friends, and others interested in their safety and support, have a source of comprehensive and timely crisis information, services and assistance.
| 7.2b. | Increase the capacity of the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) to respond to an increased average of calls per month. |
FY 2003 PLAN |
|
| 7.2b.1. | Increase the amount of training
hours provided to advocates to handle sexual assault calls. Data Source: Administrative Data |
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 Domestic Violence Resource Network (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 FY 2003, training for advocates to handle sexual assault calls was expanded to include training for military callers as well as training to improve service to the Deaf community (a partnership with Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services). A total of 111 advocacy volunteers were trained. The summer 2003 training class was completed in July and during a three-month period volunteers were trained in over 500 hours of service.
For FY 2004 - 2005, we have combined these two measures to highlight the increase in the average number of calls received by the Domestic Violence Hotline. 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, a significant entity in facilitating victims’ access to shelter and services, has answered more than 1 million calls since its inception in February 1996.
Each year, both the number of calls and the number of calls responded to by advocates have increased. Hotline staff and volunteers provide victims of domestic violence, and those calling on their behalf, crisis intervention, information about domestic violence, and referrals to local service providers. The services of the Hotline are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Hotline data collection program collects, analyzes and disseminates national data on the nature, scope and impact of family violence in the United States for professionals and policy makers at the local, state, and national levels. Assistance through email is available at ndvh@ndvh.org.
The continuing challenge to the Hotline is staffing. Adequate response to an increased number of calls per month requires 28 full- and part-time advocates, 20 relief advocates and 30 volunteer advocates. Staff resources are constrained by factors that affect such labor-intensive activities as turnovers, work schedules, compensation, and competition with better paying jobs in the local area of the Hotline operation. In FY 2001, the National Domestic Violence Hotline’s capacity to receive and respond to calls was expanded by a one-time grant from a corporate contributor resulting in a response of 13,800 average calls per month exceeding the projected target by 2,800 calls. In FY 2002, the Hotline responded to 12,500 calls, 1,000 more than projected. During FY 2003, the Hotline responded to an average of 14,000 calls per month, exceeding the projected FY 2003 target by 2,000 calls.
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