Self-Sufficiency and Safety: Welfare Reform For Victims of Domestic Violence

Marial L. Imperial

Associate Director & General Counsel for Victim Services; Chair, New York City Women, Welfare and Abuse Taskforce

Studies indicate that women with the least financial resources are more likely to be killed by their spouse. The federal Violence Against Women Act of 1994 is in some ways in tension with the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Their inaction prompts a study of the relationship between domestic violence advocates and welfare reform proponents, two groups that have historically had little to do with each other and the constituencies they serve.

In seeking to eliminate welfare dependency, the federal government ignored the effect of violence on the lives of women and girls. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act has a disproportionately negative impact on women who are victims of domestic abuse, since they often lack the means by which to support themselves after leaving their batterers.

Only the time limit hardship provision of the PRWORA legislation really addresses this issue, inasmuch as it allows states to exempt a portion of their caseload due to battery or extreme cruelty. The Family Violence Option allows states to adopt domestic violence screening programs. (A state-by-state chart indexes those states that have adopted the Family Violence Option in their welfare legislation.)

States have wide latitude in their formulation of the Family Violence Option, but three fundamental recommendations are helpful. First, victims of domestic violence who apply for welfare should be informed of the options available to them under the law, should be assured of confidentiality, and should be referred to appropriate services. Second, states should implement regulations that grant waivers to victims from statutory time limits for remaining on welfare, from work requirements if working will endanger the victim, and from paternity establishment and child support cooperation requirements if disclosing information will expose the victim to further danger. Finally, states should be creative in their use of TANF money to assist victims to move off welfare, including efforts to integrate programs designed to combat domestic violence with teen pregnancy education programs, increasing data collection on statutory rape and the linkage between domestic violence and the receipt of welfare benefits.

Vol. V, No. 1, p.3 (1997)

Revised July 17, 2003 (MD)