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24-HOUR CENSUS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SERVICES
1,397 VICTIMS SERVED IN ONE DAY
546 domestic violence victims found refuge in
emergency shelters or transitional housing provided by local domestic
violence programs.
851 adults and children received non-residential
services, including individual counseling, legal advocacy, and
children’s support groups.
In just one day, 90% of local programs
provided individual counseling or advocacy but only
17% were able to provide
transitional housing.
On September 25, 2007, 60 out of 92, or 65%, of identified
domestic violence programs in North
Carolina participated in the 2007 National Census
of Domestic Violence Services.
The following figures represent information from the 60
participating programs about services
they provided during the 24-hour survey period.
165 UNMET REQUESTS FOR SERVICES
Due to a lack of
resources, many programs in North
Carolina reported a critical shortage of funds
and staff to assist victims in need of services, such as housing,
childcare, mental health and substance abuse counseling, and legal
representation.
NOT ENOUGH STAFF
Programs reported that
lack of staffing was a reason that they could not meet
victims’ requests
for services. 90% of programs have fewer than 20 paid staff,
and 50% of
those programs have fewer than 10 paid staff.
542 HOTLINE CALLS ANSWERED
Domestic violence
hotlines are a life line for victims in danger. Domestic violence
program staff in North Carolina
answered more than 23 hotline calls every hour,
providing support, information, safety planning, and resources.
1,384 PEOPLE TRAINED
Individuals across North Carolina
attended community education and trainings,
gaining much
needed information on prevention and early intervention.
NORTH CAROLINA
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Local Statistics
Coastal Women’s Shelter serves Craven, Jones and
Pamlico counties.
Within
the tri-county area over the past year:
Ø
Over 7,600 Crisis Line calls were taken.
Ø
Over 2,800 people received client assistance
including housing, food, employment assistance, child care, and legal
referrals.
Ø
Over 360 people were assisted by CWS Court
Advocates.
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Over 70 women and children resided in the safe
house.
Ø
Over 270 women and children attended support
groups within the tri-county area.
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National News
New
report shows large demand for
Domestic
Violence services and short supply of
resources
to meet victims’ needs
Cuts to core VAWA
programs and VOCA threaten advocates’ abilities to meet demand for
services
(January 30, 2008) Washington, DC
– In a single day, domestic violence programs served more than
53,000 adults and children in the United States.
However, a significant number of requests – more than
7,700 -- went unmet because domestic violence agencies
lacked the funding and staff to meet the demand. This data comes from the
release of the National Network to End Domestic Violence’s second National
Census of Domestic Violence Services (NCDVS).
Approximately 61% of unmet requests were for emergency
shelter and transitional housing. With recent
cuts to critical programs funded by the Violence Against Women
Act (VAWA) and the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA), domestic violence advocates
worry about their ability to respond to all requests for help.
“Domestic violence programs are already
struggling to meet the huge demand for shelter and advocacy
services,” said Sue Else, President of the National Network to End
Domestic Violence. “Because of cuts in the 2008 federal budget,
domestic violence programs will have even fewer resources to offer victims.
When programs don’t have adequate funding to operate, victims are
left with no choice but to return to their abusers.”
The Fiscal Year 2008 federal budget:
•
slashes $35 million from the VOCA Fund, a
key funding source which serves over 3 million crime victims each year;
•
cuts $2.1 million from the Legal Assistance
to Victims program; and
•
applies a 1.74% rescission to Labor Health
and Human Services funding, creating a devastating
$2.2 million cut to the Family Violence Prevention and
Services Act.
“The more resources available to victims, the
better chance they have to escape the violence,” added Else.
“We hope this data, and the stories behind the numbers, inspire the
President and Congress in creating a 2009 federal budget that includes
adequate funding for domestic violence services.”
The NCDVS collected a national, unduplicated count of
adults and children who received life-saving services from domestic
violence programs on September 25, 2007. During the 24-hour survey period
53,203 adults and children received domestic violence
services, including:
• more than 16,000
Americans who sought refuge in emergency shelters;
• over 8,600 who lived
in transitional housing facilities; and
• nearly 28,000 who received non-residential services such as
counseling, legal advocacy and children’s support groups.
In addition, more than 20,000 calls were answered by
local, state and national crisis hotlines on September 25th, amounting to
more than 14 calls a minute. Programs also invested a significant amount of
time raising community awareness about domestic violence. During the survey
period, domestic violence programs reached almost 30,000 Americans through
more than 1,500 public awareness programs about domestic violence,
available resources, and how individuals can prevent the violence.
All of these life-saving services were provided despite
almost 70% of domestic violence programs operating with less than 20 paid
staff. “We face an overwhelming problem in our community around
domestic violence,” said a participating program in Nevada. “Our shelters are over
run, our counselors have an eight-week waiting list, and we have no room or
funds to hire more staff.”
The NCDVS is the most recent data documenting the
number of individuals served by domestic violence programs. More than 1,300
(69%) domestic violence programs from across the country participated in
the census, giving advocates and researchers a glimpse into the number of
individuals seeking services, the types of services requested and the
number of service requests that went unmet due to a lack of resources. Participating
programs logged an unduplicated count of adults and children requesting and
accessing their services between 8 a.m. EDT on September 25, 2007 and 7:59
a.m. EDT on September 26, 2007. In addition to providing a national
snapshot, the NCDVS report also includes state-level data.
The National Census of Domestic Violence Services is
available online at http://www.nnedv.org/census.
About the National Network to End Domestic Violence
The
National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) is a membership and
advocacy organization representing the 54 state and U.S.
territory domestic violence coalitions. NNEDV is the voice of these
coalitions, their more than 2,000 local domestic violence member programs,
and the millions of domestic violence survivors who turn to them for
services. In 2000 and 2005, NNEDV members all across the country played a
crucial role in the reauthorization of VAWA. Through its extensive state
and grassroots network, NNEDV continues to mobilize a powerful constituency
to make their voices heard in Congress. For more information, please visit www.nnedv.org
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