Many Victims of Family Violence Not Getting Help They Need
There is a new report called Not Enough: What TANF Offers Family Violence Victims (pdf) which comes from a joint effort between Legal Momentum and the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence.
From the press release on this report:
From the press release on this report:
Washington, D.C. Bureaucratic black holes, indifferent or hostile staff members, inadequate benefits, and shortsighted procedures and policies are preventing many family violence victims from getting the resources they need to escape abuse. According to an unprecedented new national survey of service providers, problems like these plague the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, effectively stopping victims of abuse from accessing help when they need it most.This report is a must read for everyone who has ever asked, "Why don't they leave?" or who is ever asked this question. Failures in systems meant to help victims of violence can be more than frustrating, they can result in people dying.
3 Comments:
When I tried telling my doctor what my husband had done, she was not remotely sympathetic. She said that it made sense and that he was entitled to it and that what else was he supposed to do? Then she told me how she'd often wished she could rape her ex-husband when they were married and he wasn't providing enough sex. (That's almost verbatim.) When I said I was thinking of leaving and that I was traumatized, she told me that this had all happened because we live in an apartment and not a house. I've never been so stunned.
Acey,
That is a disgusting level of incompetence. What's worse is you were billed for this incompetence.
The news doesn't shock me. With the economy in the toilet, there are infinitely more stressors on families. Abusers act out. Abuse victims go to governmental agencies tagged to help them, but the workers there who DO give a crap are so overwhelmed with staff cuts (gotta cut those budgets!) and case load increases that they're shell-shocked themselves.
It's a recipe for disaster and death.
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