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VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT VICTIM ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM 2002 VIRGINIA STATE WIDE ASSISTANCE REPORT Prepared By: Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services 805 East Broad Street 10th Floor Richmond, VA 23218-1991 tel: (804)786-3923
STATE FUNDING INFORMATION
A. THE ANNUAL AMOUNT ALLOCATED TO THE VICTIM ASSISTANCE PROJECTS: 1. Appropriations $ 5,598,463 2. Criminal Fines and Penalities $ 4,671,338 3. Assessments $ 0 4. Other $ 517,694 TOTAL:$ 10,787,495
B. TOTAL NUMBER OF AGENCIES FUNDED FROM THE FEDERAL GRANT: 105
C. NUMBER OF SUBGRANTS FUNDED FROM THIS FEDERAL GRANT: 132
VICTIM STATISTICS
A. THE NUMBER OF VICTIMS SERVED BY TYPE OF VICTIMIZATION:
NO. OF NO. OF VICTIMS SERVED VICTIMS SERVED 2,328 1. Child Physical Abuse 2,741 7. Adults Molested as Children 6,810 2. Child Sexual Abuse 795 8. Survivors of Homicide Victims 62 3. DUI/DWI Crashes 1,369 9. Robbery 13,300 4. Domestic Violence 6,177 10. Assualt 5,191 5. Adult Sexual Assault 13,568 11. Other 34 6. Elder Abuse TOTAL: 52,375
B. THE NUMBER OF VICTIMS WHO RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING SERVICES:
NO. OF VICTIMS SERVED 20,054 1. Crisis Counseling 19,174 2. Followup 2,026 3. Therapy 3,559 4. Group Treatment/Support 4,843 5. Shelter/Safehouse 34,099 6. Information/Referral (in-person) 28,212 7. Criminal Justice Support/Advocacy 2,381 8. Emergency Financial Assistance 3,520 9. Emergency Legal Advocacy 1,493 10. Assistance in filing Compensation Claims 14,085 11. Personal Advocacy 38,216 12. Telephone contact Informational/Referral 91,708 13. Other TOTAL: 263,370
A. EFFORTS TO PROMOTE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AID TO CRIME VICTIMS: Below is the narrative portion of the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) progress report for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In Virginia, VOCA funds are administered by two state agencies. The Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) through its Victims Services Section, provides funding to local victim/witness and sexual assault programs. The Department of Social Services (DSS) provides funds to programs serving domestic violence victims and child abuse/neglect victims. In addition to administering VOCA funds, the Victims Services Section (VSS) is also responsible for the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization grant program, which complements the existing work of the section. VSS also administers the funding for Violence Against Women (V-STOP) projects as well as being the administrating agency for the Grant to Encourage Arrest and Enforcement of Protective Orders (GEAP). This report was compiled by the Department of Criminal Justice Services and is divided into sections according to each state agency. DCJS (Victim/Witness ) Cooperative Agreements All subgrantees of VOCA and Victim/Witness funds are encouraged to maintain signed, written cooperative agreements with all agencies serving victims of crime in their individual localities. Multidisciplinary Task Forces Most local victim/witness programs in Virginia are involved in multidisciplinary task forces, boards, and committees charged with improving services for victims of crime. These collaborative efforts typically focus on child abuse and domestic violence. Community Criminal Justice Boards In 1994, the General Assembly passed legislation requiring the establishment of local Community Criminal Justice Boards (CCJBs). These boards are legislated to include judges from each court, the Chief Magistrate, the Chief of Police, the Sheriff or regional jail administrator, the Commonwealth’s Attorney, a public defender, a local educator, and the CCJB Administrator. CCJBs have a positive impact on local criminal justice systems by increasing communication among the members and developing policies regarding local public safety issues. Several of these boards have been instrumental in establishing victim/witness programs. Interdisciplinary Training on Homicide The DCJS Victims Services Section held four interdisciplinary trainings on the issue of homicide for law enforcement officers, prosecutors and victim advocates in the summer of 2001. The Summer Institute on Homicide, held in Roanoke, Fredericksburg, Virginia Beach and Richmond for a total of 216 participants, was offered to meet the needs of localities wishing to provide a more coordinated and comprehensive response to family members of homicide victims. Crime Victims’ Rights Week Luncheon The DCJS Victims Services Section co-sponsors, with the Virginia Network for Victims and Witnesses of Crime, Inc., an annual workshop and luncheon commemorating victims’ rights. Announcements are sent to Commonwealth’s Attorneys, Judges, Chiefs of Police, Sheriff’s, Advocates, Probation and Parole and SANE/Forensic nurses. This year’s workshop and luncheon theme was “Bringing Honor to Victims”. The title of the workshop was: “Responding to Victims of Terrorism: The Pentagon Family Assistance Center” and the speaker was Ms. Meg Falk, Director of the Office of Family Policy for the Pentagon. Virginia’s Governor, Mark Warner, was the luncheon speaker and awards of recognition were presented to select individuals who provided services to the victims of the Pentagon. DCJS (Sexual Assault) Coordination of victims’ services continues to be promoted by sexual assault crisis centers through the development and maintenance of working relationships with local criminal justice and community services personnel. Staff members from the centers participate in a variety of community teams, task forces, and coordinating councils, working together with other community representatives to identify gaps in services and to overcome obstacles to obtaining justice. A recent trend in coordination is the creation of work groups who develop and implement sexual assault response protocols. These protocols reinforce the safety net of medical, counseling, and law enforcement services for sexual assault victims. Some other examples of coordinated efforts this year include: Several localities have worked across disciplines to develop and submit grant applications to fund coordinated projects (e.g. SANE nurse training). Many programs work closely with their local schools, and a great number of students have disclosed recent and historical sexual assaults to these advocates. Sexual assault center staff provide training and technical assistance to many groups of allied professionals, especially to law enforcement and faith communities. DSS (Child Abuse/ Neglect) All grantees for the child abuse victim portion of VOCA serve on a variety of local community committees, task forces and/or boards to represent the needs of child abuse victims. Examples of these efforts are local agency Child Abuse Multi-Discipline Teams, F.A.P.T.s (Family Assessment Planning Team); domestic violence coalitions; youth services coalitions; alcohol and drug awareness committees; etc. Because a number of grantees are volunteer organizations, the training of volunteers involves many community agency representatives. Because a majority of the grantees have advisory boards, the training of these board members also involves many community agency representatives. Both of these promote and frequently result in a coordinated response to child abuse and neglect. Training, provided by both the state and some of the VOCA grantees, has stressed both treatment and coordinated approaches to providing services to victims. Both public and private victim service providers have been invited and have attended these training events. The very presence of a wide diversity of attendees at these trainings, coupled with a format that encourages coordination and networking, has resulted in new alliances among the VOCA grantees and with a variety of community service providers. In addition, the very definition of a child abuse/neglect victim requires that the child be known to the local child protective service agency, which is the local department of social services. In many localities, this results in a closer cooperation between the grantee agency and the local department, with frequent two way referrals. (The overwhelming majority of grantee agencies are private non-profit.) Almost half of the VOCA child abuse/neglect grantees this year are CASA programs. Because of the role of the CASA, there are occasions in some localities where a coordinated approach is very strained between the private non-profit CASA and the public department of social services. There is an ongoing coordinated effort between DCJS and the state DSS to provide technical assistance to enable local grantees to develop appropriate ongoing cooperation between local entities. In addition, the CASA directors who have successfully identified and remedied this are being paired with other grantee programs, both CASA and Domestic Violence, to share the components of developing a successful work relationship. This year, three of the VOCA child abuse/neglect grants went to joint applicants. These proposals requested funding for projects that would be carried out by a joint public/private venture. One of these involves two public and one private agency providing direct counseling; a second involves placing a local social services public employee in a domestic violence shelter to provide direct services to joint child clients, and the third involves a pairing of public and private placement agencies with psychologists, educators and legal private and/or volunteer entities to advocate for victims impacted educationally, to assure appropriate special services. This past year, training funds were used to meet locally identified needs. VOCA grantees were requested to create a coalition of local departments of social services and other victim service providers in a region to determine a primary training need. Funding was then provided for a regional training to meet the identified need in relation to direct victim services. DSS (Domestic Violence) There is ongoing collaboration between the Child Protective Services Program and Domestic Violence Prevention Services Programs. One major collaboration includes a educational subcommittee that was formed with representatives from local child protective services (CPS) and DV programs. Courses were developed, published, and training was conducted that included Domestic Violence and its Impact on Children. Special one-day training events under development for 2003 include custody and visitation, child abuse and how to handle overlapping child abuse/domestic violence cases, as well as the impact on children who witness domestic violence. The Domestic Violence (DV) and Child Protective Services (CPS) programs partnered this year to apply for funding under the Safe Havens: Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Grant Program of the Violence Against Women Office. This funding would allow for supervised and safe visitation exchange of children between parents in situations involving domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault or, stalking. Domestic Violence and Child Protective Services programs collaborated this year to develop an automated invoicing form for funded agencies that allows agencies to report in a standardized way the expenditures in funding for both DV and CPS. This has improved significantly the quality and efficiency of financial reporting.
B. EFFORTS TAKEN TO SERVE FEDERAL CRIME VICTIMS: DCJS (Victim/Witness) Following the events of 9/11, the Victims Services Section of DCJS took the lead in organizing a meeting to discuss how to respond to the needs of the victims of the Pentagon attack. As a result of several discussions had at that meeting, on September 12, 2001, Governor James Gilmore established a Terrorism Victim Assistance Help-Line. The purpose of the Help-Line was to coordinate information requests and offers of assistance to the victims and to provide referrals to victims. The Help-Line was housed in the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles Call Center in Richmond. In addition to other state agency representatives, staff from the Victims Services Section of DCJS and victim advocates from Central Virginia volunteered to staff the phone lines. Staff from Victim Services also prepared a script for use by the volunteers staffing the phones and provided crisis intervention and victimology training to the DMV Call Center staff and volunteers outside of the victim assistance community. Nine staff members and fifteen victim advocates provided counseling to callers and support to the other Call Center volunteers. The Help-Line was discontinued in November 2001 when it was determined that other systems were now in place to handle referrals and services to 9/11 victims. Also, on September 12, 2001, the U. S. Department of Defense established the Pentagon Family Assistance Center, located at the Sheraton Hotel Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia. The purpose of the Center was to provide a one-stop location for Pentagon victims and their families to receive and apply for services. The state Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund was one of the agencies represented at the Center and staff from the DCJS Victims Services Section as well as advocates from Northern Virginia, Tidewater and Central Virginia volunteered to assist with helping the victim families file claims. The CICF table was staffed seven days a week for four weeks. Three staff members from DCJS Victims Services and forty-five advocates assisted. VOCA training funds were used to provide a one-day training to victim advocates from across the state on “Crisis Response to Victims of Terrorism“. The training, held in October 2001, provided a brief introduction to Crisis Response Training for victim advocates to prepare them for the possibility of providing services to such victims. Sixty-three advocates attended this training. In March 2002, as part of Grant Renewal and Program Management for victim/witness program staff, a two-part workshop entitled: “Hate Crimes and Their Significance Since 9/11”, was presented to approximately 60 advocates. In June 2002, VOCA training funds were used to provide a one-day training on “Mass Tragedy: Preparing Your Community To Respond”. Sixty-six advocates from across the state attended this session. A separate “Stakeholder Issues” training was also held in June, to prepare advocates for the possibility of providing services to victims of 9/11, who might attend the Moussaoui Trial, scheduled to be conducted in Alexandria, Virginia at some future date. Forty-four advocates attended this meeting in which a discussion was held to prepare for the impact of this trial on victims and what services should be provided. In addition, each of Virginia’s US Attorney’s Offices operates a victim/witness program to assure federal crime victims receive the services they need. Local victim/witness programs do not report providing any significant services to federal crime victims within the past year. However, all programs are required to provide services to these victims, upon request. Federal victim/witness program staff often attend regional and state trainings offered by DCJS and the Virginia Network for Victims and Witnesses of Crime, Inc., as well as others. These trainings afford them a chance to network with local programs to ensure that the needs of federal crime victims are being met. DCJS (Sexual Assault) Many sexual assault centers are located near military installations, and they receive numerous referrals from military human service agencies. The victims are either armed forces personnel or married to service personnel. Several centers have assisted victims who were stalked, abducted, and/or sexually assaulted in cases that crossed state lines. A few of the centers provide outreach and services to the Native American populations in their service areas. DSS (Child Abuse /Neglect) Funded programs did not report providing services to federal crime victims. However, all programs are required to provide such services, as needed. DSS (Domestic Violence) Funded programs did not report providing services to federal crime victims. However, all programs are required to provide such services, as needed.
C. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE DELIVERY OF VICTIM SERVICES: DCJS (Victim/Witness) The Department of Criminal Justice Services used a combination of special funds and VOCA funds to support 104 victim/witness assistance programs in the state. According to statistical reports submitted to DCJS, grant-funded victim/witness programs in Virginia provided direct services to 56,477 victims in FFY01 and generic services to 49,933 victims in FFY01. VOCA dollars were used to support 23 of the 104 programs funded through DCJS grants. VOCA subgrantees provided 62% of the direct services and 72% of the generic services delivered by victim/witness programs funded through DCJS. The Victims Services Section has contributed to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of services delivered to victims by conducting the following projects: * updated a needs assessment, based on crime statistics, which determined appropriate staffing levels for victim assistance programs for each of Virginia's 120 localities. Several states have requested information about this victim/witness needs assessment model from DCJS. * provided training to 30 new staff members of Virginia Victim Assistance programs in basic program management. * conducted a grant renewal and program management training attended by 135 persons. * conducted a program outreach and codebook training attended by 26 persons. * maintained the client information management system (CIMS) users group. (CIMS is software designed specifically for the data collection needs of Virginia victim/witness programs and DCJS.) Provided CIMS training at Basic Program Management and Grant Renewal Training. Provided 2 CIMS trainings in Henrico County and Abingdon for 35 persons. CIMS development and training was supported with VOCA training funds. * The Monitoring Form and list of programs to be monitored was updated during FFY01. During FFY01, DCJS funded 104 victim/witness programs. Victim/witness monitors made site visits to 25 programs and met with regional coalitions. * At the local level, many victim/witness program staff members are active in training activities. They present training to representatives of criminal justice agencies, and they provide community and school presentations. In addition, victim/witness staff present workshops at most DCJS-sponsored trainings. DCJS (Sexual Assault) This year, DCJS funded one new program for sexual assault services, bringing the total number of VOCA grant-funded sexual assault programs in Virginia to thirty-eight. Now, all citizens of the Commonwealth have access to sexual assault services! At the sub-grantee level, local sexual assault crisis centers improve service delivery by conducting surveys to assess community resources available to clients. They also conduct needs assessments to determine the gaps in critical services that their agencies might be able to fill. An increased emphasis on outcome evaluation has led many programs to develop ways of measuring the effectiveness of outreach efforts and direct services. Some programs take this a step further by analyzing the information they collect to ascertain which methods of conducting outreach and providing services are most meaningful and cost-effective. Local centers also spend many hours in generating public awareness of sexual assault services, and training allied professionals in victims’ issues. Virginians Aligned Against Sexual Assault (VAASA), the statewide coalition, supports the efforts of the local sexual assault crisis centers through training and technical assistance. Although VAASA does not receive VOCA funds, DCJS oversees other federal (PHHS) and state funds for this organization. VAASA directs a certification process for all sexual assault crisis centers that choose to participate. Most Virginia centers meet the VAASA “standards” for certification, and this has improved the quality and consistency of center services statewide. VAASA and Virginians Against Domestic Violence (VADV) collaborate on a statewide Family Violence and Sexual Assault Hotline. This hotline provided services to approximately 400 sexual assault callers this year. Many local centers “forward” their crisis lines to the hotline during the evenings and holidays so victims from their areas can still receive services when staff are out of the office. In the event of an emergency, hotline staff contact the local centers to arrange hospital accompaniments or other immediate face-to-face services. VADV also made significant modifications to their VAdata statistical collection program so that sexual assault crisis centers could use this database to record information about their clients and services. VAdata is now able to generate the VOCA quarterly reports for these centers to submit to DCJS. Victims Services Section staff of DCJS have coordinated efforts with VAASA, VADV, and local centers. The Sexual Assault Program Analyst has worked closely with these two coalitions, attending their meetings and participating in their working groups (e.g. VAASA’s Public Policy and Training Committees and VADV’s VAdata Advisory Group). The Sexual Assault Program Analyst also provides training at VAASA conferences and is a member of VADV’s Training Institute Faculty. In addition to these coalitions, the Analyst is a member of the Campus Sexual Assault Task Force and the V-STOP State Team. A “Codebook” was written and distributed to outline the grant guidelines and define the service objectives. This Codebook assisted sub-grantees in completing their quarterly reports. The monitoring instrument was refined this year to better assess sub-grantee compliance and performance. Seven monitoring visits were conducted in this funding year; several more are scheduled for the near future. Written summary reports with recommendations are sent to the center within thirty days of the site visit. In addition to on-site monitoring, sub-grantee progress reports are reviewed quarterly. These administrative steps will help improve service delivery by discovering program weaknesses and identifying possible solutions. A two-year grant cycle was established for FY2002-2003. This not only reduces the number of grants each center has to write, but it also provides them a sense of fiscal stability and gives them the information necessary to plan for their activities over a longer period of time. This was the first time our agency tried a two-year grant cycle, and it has been fairly successful so far. Sexual assault training funds were used to provide several DCJS training events for sexual assault grantees: Basic Program Management Training Sexual Assault Program Management Training Four Homicide Institutes Crisis Response Training Campus Sexual Assault Training Victims’ Rights Week Workshop and Luncheon DCJS also funded a number of training scholarships to several sexual assault conferences sponsored by VAASA. DSS (Child Abuse/ Neglect) The Department conducted the usual program monitoring of contract records through quarterly review of performance reports submitted by sub-grantees. This review revealed that most of the grantees were delivering services according to the contract requirements. VOCA funds are granted to agencies as the result of an RFP process. The VOCA grants administrator is responsible for the RFP process and administers and manages the financial and programmatic aspects of the sub-grantees. The VOCA grants administrator also serves on the Court Appointed Special Advocate/Children's Justice Act Advisory Board which develops and monitors three-year statewide strategic plans. In previous grant years, the level of expectation regarding performance evaluation based upon outcome measures was raised and training provided to all grantees. Considerable time was spent providing further technical assistance to programs struggling to implement manageable and meaningful outcome measures that are within the scope, financial and staffing means of the agencies. All new and continuing grants must provide yearly program evaluation with a focus on outcomes for the victim. This process is designed to ensure that victim services are making a positive difference in the lives of child abuse/neglect victims. Because there are so many inter-related parties involved with these children, this often requires VOCA funded sub-grantees to analyze systemic problems and collaborate with all parties to ensure appropriate services to individual victims. This is especially true with the CASA programs which comprise almost half of the VOCA sub-grantees. Two VOCA funded trainings were conducted in July 2001, one in April 2002, and another scheduled for June 2002, had to be rescheduled to September 2003. Topics were: -Substance Exposed Infants: Impact and Treatment: A Community Epidemic: A Matter Of Substance -On-Line Electronic Invoice Use; CPS Policy for Victim Services and Differential Response System -Renewing Our Commitment: Seeing the Work Through New Eyes – A Training with Naomi Griffin -For the Children: Improving Our Coordinated Response to Child Victims of Violence There was also a collaborative effort involving the VOCA coordinators for both child abuse/neglect and domestic violence working with the Virginians Against Domestic Violence, and a local VOCA grantee, Loudoun Citizens for Social Justice (which provides both child treatment, supervised visitation and domestic violence shelter/services). This effort was an attempt to secure funding from the federal Justice Department, Violence Against Women Office for supervised visitation and safe exchange program enhancement, training and implementation. Unfortunately, we were not awarded funding. DSS (Domestic Violence) The monitoring plan that was developed by staff to monitor each domestic violence program once a year was carried out successfully. Each VOCA funded program was visited and evaluated at least once, by a program consultant. During a typical site visit, contract and administrative elements of each program were evaluated. The program consultants were also given a tour of each facility, and/or shelter and met the staff of each program. We are looking forward to continuing our monitoring plan during the 2003 fiscal year. In FY 2003, each DSS funded staff member, in the monitored local agency, will be interviewed, one or more of the agencies’ programs will be observed, and client evaluations will be conducted.
D. WAYS VOCA FUNDS HAVE BEEN USED TO ASSIST CRIME VICTIMS: DCJS (Victim/Witness) The following case studies were taken from the quarterly reports of two different victim/witness programs: 1. Update on the murder trial of John Doe, which is scheduled to begin on January 28, 2002. Doe is charged with capital murder and object sexual penetration of his estranged wife, Jane Doe. Jane was found dead by her now 11-year-old daughter last April. She had been strangled and stabbed in the bedroom of the house she shared with her two young daughters. John Doe had been asked to leave the home approximately two weeks prior to the murder because of ongoing abuse. He allegedly told his youngest daughter, a week before her mother’s death, that he would kill her mother, and if the child told what he said, he would kill her and her sister as well. The two young children have been in the custody of Jane Doe’s oldest daughter by her first marriage, since the murder. This has been an especially heartbreaking case to work on. The children are receiving counseling and a few months ago, the daughter who found her mother dead came forward and told us that she hadn’t told the police everything. At first, the child said she woke up around 10:00 a.m. and went downstairs to her mother’s bedroom and found her dead. This child has now told us that she woke up around 6:00 a.m. and went to get into bed with her mother, which she often did. She said her mother’s room was very dark and she “felt” her mother on “John’s side of the bed”, so she crawled into the bed on the other side. She awoke again about 10:00 a.m. and saw her mother’s “head through the bars of the bed and saw blood around her neck.” She attempted to call her grandmother from her mother’s room but the phone wouldn’t work, so she went upstairs to the other phone. The phone line had been cut so she had to go back downstairs where her mother was and find her cell phone to call for help. Obviously, this child’s testimony is crucial to our case, however, we want to make her court appearance as easy as possible. We will be using closed circuit television so she won’t have to face her father in the courtroom. 2. Victim/Witness has been working with a family whose 12-year-old son has been molesting his 5-year-old brother. This case is extremely difficult due to the nature of the crime and the fact that the victim and the defendant are brothers. The parents are torn and are going through counseling themselves. A court date is set, however there is concern on the part of the Commonwealth Attorney in that, the victim is very young. Closed circuit TV testimony is an option; however, the CA is still hesitant, weighing the damage of making the 5-year-old testify. Another concern the victim witness program and the police have is what prompted the 12-year-old to start him molesting his brother. The victim witness program will continue work with the family throughout the court case and afterwards. Services provided to the family have been referrals to counseling and assistance with Victim Compensation Fund forms, as well as an explanation of the criminal justice system and their rights as victims. DCJS (Sexual Assault) The following cases were taken from the narratives of quarterly progress reports from different programs. 1. This is a case involving a 39-year-old African American female who is a survivor of multiple forms of childhood abuse. She survived severe physical abuse at the hands of her mother who was angry because our client became pregnant as the result of being raped by her brother. She carries scars from the beatings into her adult life. At the age of 10, she was raped by her father. She has struggled with PTSD and substance abuse. She initially called our hotline because she was lonely and just wanted to talk. Staff has been providing ongoing support by phone and in person since that initial call. She has unsuccessfully tried to get disability benefits and staff has referred her to some experts who are currently helping her with another application for benefits. Staff has also accompanied her to court to receive spousal support from her former husband, so that she will have income until the disability benefits are received. She has made some strides in overcoming some of the PTSD and isolation that she has been experiencing since being involved in our program. 2. The client is a 38-year-old female who has made enormous strides recovering from extensive incestuous molestation, rape as a teen and sexual and physical abuse as a wife. She has recovered from anorexia, which is one of the presenting issues, and has successfully separated from her abusive family of origin, as well as her abusive husband. Over the past two years, we have provided counseling to her, we have accompanied her to court numerous times, where she had to face her abusers each time. She has stood up for herself in the face of often overwhelming resistance from her family, and the uncompromising and often inflexible attitude of the court system. In spite of this, she has maintained custody of her children, her husband now cooperates with her, and most of all, she has secured a higher paying job in the nursing field. She has accomplished so much in such a small amount of time; it is a reminder that healing for survivors is possible. DSS (Child Abuse/Neglect) The following cases were taken from the narratives of quarterly reports from different programs. 1.Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) generally seek to minimize the instability that children experience post abuse/neglect. They, however, realize that not every multiple placement case indicates a failure of the system. For example, one teenage girl was removed from her father’s custody as a result of physical and emotional abuse. This girl remained in her home with her grandmother and siblings, while her father moved to another house. Within a short period, it became apparent that this girl needed more intensive treatment than the in-home counseling she was receiving, so she was placed in a treatment hospital. Once she no longer required this intensive level of treatment, she was moved to a residential facility where she is progressing very well. Despite the distance from home (2 hours), her CASA volunteer is in close communication with her and visits at least once a month. Once she returns home, she will be a “4 placement changes” child, but she will have received essential services. In this case, VOCA funds supported the CASA advocate, who’s case management expertise and crisis counseling skills, greatly benefited the victim and promoted an appropriate and effective placement. One VOCA funded community service board (mental health) operates a treatment program specializing in working with abused and neglected children and the non-perpetrator family members. One family has recently begun therapy due to a molestation of the 8 year old granddaughter. She was horrifically sexually and physically abused by her mother and mother’s fiancé. They molested and raped her numerous times including digital penetration, penile penetration, and object penetration. There are currently civil and criminal court hearings and this child will have to testify against both parties. She lives with her paternal grandparents and is in a safe environment, although she lacks trust with others. This family has very low income, lives in the mountains, uses an outhouse, struggles with transportation, and all female members have a history of substance abuse, sexual abuse, and physical/emotional abuse. The child is in the custody of the grandmother, her mother has several Axis I disorders including schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. The perpetrator (current fiancé) had also raped her mother when she was 13. Family therapy is necessary for this case because her grandmother has abuse issues that have never been addressed. Therapy for the child includes anger management, issues around safety and being nurtured, possible eating disorder and dissociative features. Family therapy includes education around abuse, the resulting behaviors, and setting appropriate boundaries and limits about feelings of guilt, responsibility, depression and hopelessness that this child was raped. It is also necessary to address the grandmother’s feelings of discomfort when the child wants appropriate physical attention, empathizing with the girl instead of utilizing her own defense mechanisms, and remaining consistent and appropriate in her disciplining of her granddaughter. Therapy will begin for the maladaptive behaviors of the child and the grandmother’s need to process her own sexual abuse as a child. This family would not be able to receive the amount of therapy, advocacy, case management, and education they need without the benefit of VOCA. DSS (Domestic Violence) The following cases were taken from narratives of progress reports from different programs. 1. The first story comes from the VOCA funded program in Hanover County. A young woman and her two young children, ages 7 and 3, were residents of a state that is north of Virginia. This young woman called the hotline and spoke with a staff member on duty describing her situation as high risk. She was desperate in her attempt to find shelter where her abusive ex-partner could not locate her and her children. She was in the third shelter in her state, and each time, he had successfully found them. She was quite fearful for her life and the lives of her children. Her partner threatened them on numerous occasions. The Hanover County shelter had 3 spaces available and they were reserved for this out-of-state family. Upon arriving at the agency’s office, it was soon apparent that she had very few financial resources and possessions. She had already been in the DSS system in her state and had an Electronic Benefits Transfer card. Since Virginia was not on this system during this period, the agency granted emergency crisis funds to buy the family food until the DSS of Virginia could approve her eligibility for services in this state. An assessment was completed, and it was found that the client was eligible for TANF benefits and the referral was made to DSS. 2. A 38-year old African American female in Roanoke who is a very devoted Christian, and a mother of four, had been married to a man for seven years who abused crack cocaine for most of that time. He abused his family mentally and economically. They moved often because she could not afford to pay rent. Her credit references were bad because the bills weren’t getting paid. She struggled with the thought of what was right for her and her children. Through counseling and attending a support group at a local VOCA funded shelter, she realized things were not going to change. She and three of her children finally left and moved in with her oldest daughter. Today she has her own place and is starting over. The children are helping her and they are all trying to redefine their lives while living abuse free. 3. In the Western part of the state, the police brought to a VOCA funded local shelter, an 18-year old female who had just given birth to a baby boy. At the age of three weeks, his father abused him with the intent to kill him and the baby’s mother. The mother has the mind of a 5 or 6 year old and did not fully understand what the father was doing to the child. He had broken both of the baby’s legs and the baby’s collarbone. He hit the baby in the face with a bottle and punched both of his eyes. The child is now in the custody of the state and getting the help he needs. The local shelter has been going to court with the mother, and providing her the services to understand how to help herself and her son. They have helped her find a part-time job, and their goal is to get her into an assisted living apartment.
E. ISSUES OR TRENDS IMPACTING CRIME VICTIM SERVICES: DCJS (Victim/Witness) Responding to mass casualty events in the wake of 9/11 has been on the minds of many of the victim advocates around the state. Although it is hoped that such events do not constitute a trend in our state, advocates are choosing to attend crisis response training and some are actively trying to play a role in their community’s emergency response plan for a mass casualty event. One such event occurred in Grundy, Virginia. The Victims Services Section sent a state level crisis response team (with assistance from two NOVA representatives) to respond to the Town of Grundy, Virginia, during the week of January 21, 2002, to provide crisis response to the students and faculty of the Appalachian School of Law, and to the community at-at-large. A law school student had gone on a shooting spree, killing the dean of the law school, a professor and a student before he was wrestled to the ground by another law school student. Three students were also critically wounded in the gunfire at the school. The team spent five days in Grundy providing outreach, conducting group interventions and providing crisis response training to ministers, mental health personnel and the public school personnel. Team members also met individually with students of the law school, staff and faculty and town officials and residents who were directly affected by the shootings. Many programs mentioned a sharp increase in child victims. There were numerous reports discussing sexual and physical abuse, Internet crimes, and shaken baby cases. Programs discussed the continued increase of domestic violence cases that involve repeat clients and defendants. Programs expressed frustration with the amount of time spent with these cases only to see the victim back in court again. Many program are located in prosecutor offices that have a “no drop” policy. This may be a training issue for our victim/witness advocates. Despite a steady decline in the crime rate, the number of victims requesting services from victim/witness programs has increased. This is likely due to better outreach at the local level and other factors. DCJS (Sexual Assault) Several recurrent issues emerge through a review of all the quarterly reports. They are: An increase in the number of adolescent girls seeking services. Even with comprehensive intervention and services, some of these victims recant their original reports. An increase in the number of sexual assault victims charged with a criminal violation when they recant or refuse to continue cooperating with the investigation or prosecution of a case. Victims denied PERK examinations because their report is not persuasive enough, or because it is a known assailant. In one jurisdiction, the Commonwealth’s Attorney, who is called at home by hospital staff, makes this decision. Hospitals performing PERK exams, but not testing for the presence of “date rape” drugs when there are clear indications that the victims were drugged. Criminal cases fall apart because there is no drug evidence, and the victims do not have clear recollections of the assaults against them. An increase in the number of Hispanic victims seeking services. Center staff is specifically conducting outreach to this population, which may explain the increased request for services. An increase in the number of victims seeking services who also have chronic mental health issues or developmental disabilities. Defense attorneys are subpoenaing sexual assault advocates at an alarming rate. Originally, it appeared to be occurring in discrete pockets of the state. However, the word is out that this is an effective strategy for separating victims from their sources of support (therefore making it more difficult for victims to proceed in the criminal justice system), and advocates across the state are reporting this tactic. VAASA and other victims’ rights groups are looking at trying to enhance the “privileged communication” statutes in Virginia. An increase in the number of people referred to centers for counseling. Due to shrinking budgets, many community service boards are eliminating crisis intervention and counseling services for all but the seriously mentally ill. An increase in the number of victims with physical disabilities. Center staff is specifically conducting outreach to this population, which may explain the increased request for services. These problems are discouraging to local center staff. Tremendous strides have been made in the criminal justice system concerning domestic violence cases. Yet, local centers often run into serious obstacles when trying to help a victim of sexual assault navigate the same system. DSS (Child Abuse/Neglect) The Department of Social Services implemented statewide CPS (Child Protective Services) DRS (Differential Response System) in SFY 2002. The Differential Response System transforms the current “one size fits all” response to CPS reports into a more flexible system. For the first time CPS will be able to direct attention to the most severe cases involving child safety while assessing the appropriate intervention for families with less egregious offenses. Also a very strong focus for this initiative is the creation of a community - based child protective network. This will require the collaboration of all community stakeholders, including victim service providers, to enable the availability of appropriate services for child abuse/neglect victims. Finances are an emerging issue for both public and private non-profit victim service agencies. Virginia is experiencing for the second year a need to reduce department budgets by up to 15% and more cuts are expected in 2003. This coupled with anticipated VOCA service cuts will seriously impact many programs. Since 9-11, many programs are also experiencing shortfalls in community contributions. There is a concern that smaller agencies and programs will not be sustained and may close their doors. DSS (Domestic Violence) Reports from program sites have indicated a significant increase in the number of women seeking domestic violence services who are immigrants from a wide variety of countries. Since September 11, it has become more difficult for a number of these women to obtain legal papers. Before these women can apply for a number of services, obtain a driver’s license, or employment, they must first have documentation. This has been a significant barrier for a number of our programs. We are currently in the process of further developing our relationship with Newcomer Services at the State Department of Social Services to address this barrier and assist our programs and their clients.
F. USE OF VOCA ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS: DCJS (Victim/Witness) Administrative funds were used to support 1 full-time employee and to purchase one laptop computer to coordinate training events for victim/witness programs. Other staff continues to assist in the completion of this report and other responsibilities associated with this position. Administrative funds were also used to support a part-time programmer analyst, working approximately 30 hours per week, to update and provide technical assistance for the Client Information Management System (CIMS). This system has been installed in nearly every victim/witness program in the state, giving them better technology to collect and submit statistical information. All grant funded programs currently support version 2.0. DCJS completed the development of CIMS 2001 and began training localities to switch to this new version during FFY02. VOCA training funds were used to support CIMS training for local victim/witness staff and to provide printed materials at other training events. DCJS (Sexual Assault) Sexual assault administrative funds were used to support the personnel costs of one full-time employee, the sexual assault program analyst. The primary duties of this position are: Program management Grant administration Program monitoring and evaluation Technical assistance Training Resource material development DSS (Child Abuse/Neglect) This year the Department of Social Services was able, due to availability of VOCA funds, to conduct five on-site monitoring and technical assistance visits to VOCA grantees. These site visits were conducted with existing program directors to assist them with appropriate record keeping and utilization of the VOCA funds. The grantees were appreciative of the site visit and the face-to-face contact enabled both the Department and the grantee to better understand the services being provided through these VOCA funds. Site visits are also an opportunity to encourage networking and collaboration with other victim service agencies that are not traditional “partners” but who share clients. All programs receive monthly and quarterly monitoring of fiscal and programmatic progress with program work plans being reviewed quarterly. A variety of grantees deliver broad-based community services to victims of child abuse and neglect. These services include those provided by CASA programs (a volunteer advocacy service); traditional therapy programs; various group treatment programs for children; in-home services to child victims of abuse and neglect; and shelter based programs for children who are victims of both domestic violence and child abuse and neglect. It is significant that most of the children served through this grant would not otherwise receive help with the problems associated with their abuse and neglect. Also significant is the development of therapeutic programs for child victims in mental health programs that are able to provide wrap around services for these children and successfully serve traditionally hard to reach families. In addition to creating and maintaining available services for victim children, a recent additional impact is encouraging and enabling sub-grantees to evaluate and improve the effectiveness and the quality of the services delivered. Quarterly, a sample of funded programs are contacted with respect to outcomes. Technical assistance is being provided to assist programs to appropriately respond systemically or internally to negative results of outcome measurement. Overall, feedback from the localities where VOCA programs operate continues to be favorable and in some localities the VOCA program is a familiar acronym. VOCA services are requested frequently and in some programs waiting lists have occurred. DSS (Domestic Violence) Most (88%) of the $66,514 expended for administrative cost covered the salaries and benefits ($58,503) for two part-time Domestic Violence Program Consultants. Each of these positions is funded for 1500 hours per year and plays an important role in the delivery of services to domestic violence programs throughout the Commonwealth. Each staff is available to all funded programs for technical assistance, contract and budget questions, and each conducts on-site monitoring of the programs. Both staff are involved in the RFP and contracting process. Training funds were used to send administrative staff to training, as they are relatively new in their current positions. The remaining $8,011 (12%) was expended on a variety of expenses including $16.07 for postage, $888.91 for telecommunications, $250.00 for organizations, $6,172.97 for travel expenses, $78.44 for office supplies, $174.75 for equipment rental and $429.45 for office furniture. Expenses used for employee training totaled $1,392.00.