TANF Failing Domestic Violence Survivors

Many reasons hold domestic violence victims back from escaping an abusive situation, but one of the big ones is definitely money, especially if they have kids to provide for. And instead of helping women move on to a better, beating-free life, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) fails them with bureaucratic stumbling blocks and misguided policies.

TANF has a nifty little portion called the Family Violence Option (FVO), which is intended to address the specific needs of low-income women suffering from domestic abuse. While "option" is a key word, all states have voluntarily agreed to FVO or a comparable program. Yet "Not Enough: What TANF Offers Family Violence Victims," a study by Legal Momentum and the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV), makes it clear that what might look pretty snazzy on paper often ends up being less-than-helpful in real life.

To start, domestic violence shelters are not deemed a "proper address" -- so, basically, if you save yourself and perhaps also your children from an abusive situation and move into a shelter, you've now disqualified yourself from receiving the very benefits that could allow you to continue to be independent and not have to go back under the heavy fist of your partner. Oh, and TANF wants to send the assistance and paperwork to the permanent home address. You know, the one a survivor can't return to for fear of assault or even being killed by an angry partner.

Then there's the bureaucratic obsession with needing to see paperwork, although many fleeing survivors might not dig up all of that information to bring along before escaping with their life. TANF often insists on seeing the abuse documented by a hospital report, even though many women may not have been allowed to go to a hospital while under their partner's abusive rule. Then there are long processing delays before benefits can be accessed, time that many survivors and their children don't have. Some need emergency relocation aid, since the only thing that will protect them is miles and miles of distance from their abuser.

In a shocking display of ineptness and utter lack of empathy on the part of TANF workers, many victims fear to share that they were victims of violence because workers have actually shared private information, even the location of the shelter a women is staying at, to said abusive partner.

It's vital that domestic violence victims have the resources they need to escape an abuse situation -- otherwise, many of them don't end up surviving. Child care is a key benefit concern, as is aid in accessing employment that pays a living wage. Bureaucrats need to understand that the unique situation of a domestic violence survivor requires special accommodations, such as knowing they can't stroll into their homes to pick up the mail or look for extensive paperwork. No abuse victims should be forced to stay in or go back to an abusive situation just because she can't immediately put food on the table for her family.

Photo credit: SashaW