A Blueprint for Domestic Violence Interventions in Texas

Texas Council on Family Violence
Access to Safety, Justice and Opportunity:
A Blueprint for Domestic Violence
Interventions in Texas
2007 “BLUEPRINT ADDENDUM”
Access to Safety, Justice and Opportunity:
A Blueprint for Domestic Violence Interventions in Texas
2007 “BLUEPRINT ADDENDUM”
Introduction
In 2002, the Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) published the original “Access to Safety, Justice and Opportunity: A
Blueprint for Domestic Violence Interventions in Texas”. This document, which has come to be known informally as “the
State Plan”, was developed, researched and written under a contract with what was then the Texas Department of Human
Services. That state agency is now included in the Texas Health & Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the state’s
regulation of state-funded family violence programs is administered by the Family Violence Program within HHSC.
The 2002 State Plan was over a year in the making and included detailed qualitative information generated by focus
groups from across the state, as well as many recommendations for addressing family violence in the future.
For fiscal year 2007, HHSC contracted with TCFV to update this State Plan. Part of that update is included in a document
entitled “Access to Safety, Justice and Opportunity: Availability of Family Violence Services across Texas, 2007 Update”
(“Availability Update”) . In the Availability Update, TCFV summarized the results of comprehensive surveys conducted
of family violence programs across Texas to get a sense of the extent to which core emergency services as well as
transitional support services are available across Texas for survivors of family violence.
This narrative accompaniment to the Availability Update (“Blueprint Addendum”) provides new and more current
programmatic information about family violence in Texas, but is not intended to replace the full 2002 State Plan. Because
the 2002 State Plan included information from focus groups of survivors and advocates --- which this Addendum does
not --- and because the recommendations made in the State Plan are generally very fundamental and long-term (and so
will likely take more than a generation to “complete”), this Blueprint Addendum should simply be treated as a supplement
to the 2002 State Plan.
This Blueprint Addendum will cover:
• current statistics regarding family violence in Texas;
• updated information regarding the resources provided by the State of Texas to address family violence;
• a brief overview of availability of services (see the Availability Update for more detail);
• discussion of statewide planning for increased access to family violence services;
• new information regarding efforts in Texas to prevent family violence and to address economic empowerment of
survivors; and
• information regarding disaster readiness, in light of the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on Texas family
violence programs in 2005.
The State Plan from 2002 is available on TCFV’s website at: http://www.tcfv.org/stateplan .
The Availability Update from 2007 is also available on TCFV’s website at: http://www.tcfv.org/stateplan. This update will soon be interactive on TCFV’s website.
Statistics Regarding Family Violence in Texas
Between 2002 and 2005, the number of incidents of family violence reported to law enforcement in Texas increased from
183,440 to 187,811. We know that this is a dramatic underestimate of the actual incidences of family violence in Texas,
as family violence is commonly not reported to law enforcement at all, and because the Texas Department of Public
Safety, which compiles the information, does not classify incidences of abuse by ex-partners as “family violence”. (There
is no clearly discernible reason for this data collection anomaly; Texas law does include abuse by former partners in the
statutory definition of family violence). HHSC estimated that in 2002 898,508 Texas women were victims of family violence
and in 2007 the estimate had increased to 982,916. Most distressingly of all, the number of women killed through family
violence has generally increased since 2002. In 2006, there were 120 women reported killed in Texas as a result of family
violence.
In 2002, when the original State Plan was produced, HHSC-funded family violence programs served 76,769 adult victims
of family violence and their children. In 2006, these programs served 81,199 adult victims and their children, an almost 6%
increase. While the numbers of women and children served in HHSC-funded family violence programs continue to grow
and while these programs are often at full capacity, HHSC-funded family violence programs only reached an estimated
4.95% of victims in 2006.
In addition, in 2002 TCFV conducted statewide polling on prevalence of, and attitudes toward, family violence. Texans’
expressed concern over the staggering numbers of Texans affected by family violence. Some of the findings included:
• 74% of Texans have either themselves, a family member and/or a friend experienced some sort of family
violence;
• 47% of Texans report having personally experienced at least one form of family violence (physical or sexual),
severe verbal abuse and/or forced isolation from friends and family at some point in their lifetimes;
•31% of Texans report that they have been severely abused (physically or sexually) at some point in their lives;
• 73% of Texans believe that family violence is a serious problem in Texas.
Family Violence Resources in Texas
In 2003, the Texas Legislature consolidated health & human services in Texas, and the Health & Human Services
Commission (HHSC) is in many respects the successor to the Texas Department of Human Services. The State’s Family
Violence Program is housed at HHSC, and that Program administers Chapter 51 of the Texas Human Resources Code
which defines the fundamentals required of family violence service providers seeking funding from the State. Additionally,
HHSC is the State Administrator of federal funds for family violence services as appropriated under the federal Family
Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA). The State’s commitment to supporting family violence services in Texas
has grown over the last several biennia to a total for the 2008-2009 biennium of more than $48.3 million, or $24.15
million per year. This amount includes federal funding through FVPSA and TANF, as well as State general revenue.
(The percentages of each revenue source vary somewhat from biennium to biennium, based on the State’s budget
needs.) HHSC Family Violence Program funds three types of family violence programs: full service shelter centers, full
service nonresidential centers and special projects with a focus on a specialized family violence service. In the 200607 biennium, HHSC funded 72 shelter centers, 8 nonresidential centers, 7 satellite shelters and 19 special projects. For
the 2008-09 biennium, HHSC has added one additional shelter center, one nonresidential center and a new group of 21
special projects.
Texas Department of Public Safety, 2006 (TDPS reports on a calendar year basis, January 1 - December 31).
This statistic includes women killed by husbands, ex-husbands, common-law husbands, boyfriends and ex-boyfriends and is compiled from TDPS 2005 Uniform
Crime Report -- Supplemental Homicide Report plus ongoing TCFV research of news accounts.
Information provided by HHSC Family Violence Program based on statistics from September 2005 through August 2006.
This statistic is calculated by utilizing the HHSC estimated number of women experiencing family violence in 2006 (982,916) and the numbers of adult victims served by
HHSC-funded programs in fiscal year 2006 (48,610).
For more information about the requirements and definitions of these types of programs, go to Human Resource Code,
Chapter 51: http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/hr.toc.htm .
In the last two biennia, the appropriations from the State have included “exceptional items” --- small amounts of targeted
funding. In both of these biennia, the issues addressed and areas targeted for these exceptional items were based on
needs identified in the 2002 State Plan. In the 2004-05 biennium, the exceptional item, $1 million per year, was targeted to
underserved communities in urban areas or un-served rural areas of the State. Both rural and urban areas were included
in this targeted funding with the recognition that even in an urban area where one or more family violence programs
already are providing services, the need for those services, especially the need for services focused on marginalized
communities, is likely outstripping the available resources. In rural areas, the funding was particularly targeted to address
access in those counties with no dedicated family violence services present in the county. In these areas, one lesson
learned was that it is challenging and very time-consuming to build up services, and awareness of those services, in rural
counties where no services have previously been offered. Though it can certainly be assumed that there are victims of
family violence in those counties, it may nevertheless be quite difficult in a short period of time to raise awareness of new
services and to build confidence in those services such that victims access them regularly.
In the 2008-09 biennium, the exceptional item funding, again $1 million per year, is targeted to projects that either
address methods of preventing family violence before it starts or that address the unmet needs of survivors either around
transitional self-sufficiency and economic empowerment for survivors (i.e. legal representation, housing, employment
and child care). HHSC recognizes that these kinds of services are inadequate across the State, so there is no geographic
priority area or limitation for this exceptional item funding. Information regarding some new efforts on prevention and on
economic empowerment is included later in this Addendum.
Overview of Availability of Family Violence Services in Texas
The Availability Update prepared by TCFV should be reviewed for a picture of access to family violence services in Texas.
TCFV conducted surveys online and by telephone with over 100 organizations in Texas in order to refine a picture of the
availability of critical core emergency services and additional support services for victims of family violence throughout
the 254 counties of Texas and to highlight the gaps and unmet needs in Texas.
There are only six counties in Texas with no reported family violence services (Armstrong, Ellis, Hockley, Kaufman, Mills,
and Real). An additional twelve counties have some family violence services, but those services do not meet a minimum
threshold of core emergency services. A county was determined not to meet a minimum threshold of core emergency
services if it has neither:
•
•
any family violence organizations that provide face-to-face services in that county; nor
any family violence organization in an adjacent county that has, at a minimum, an emergency hotline covering that
county and transportation services to emergency shelter, intervention and legal services.
All except for two of these eighteen counties lacking adequate core emergency services are in areas with less than 100
people per square mile. Seven of these eighteen counties are in very rural areas with less than 20 people per square
mile.10
With respect to additional support services, TCFV assessed the availability of such transitional supports as legal
representation, substance abuse services, mental health services, batterer intervention services, transitional housing, and
others. The same six counties have no access to transitional services, but the overall picture of availability in the state for
these services is more difficult to see. In many counties, much of the transitional services are provided by referral to other
entities, whether governmental or non-profit. It is beyond the scope of the work TCFV did to ascertain for all counties the
extent to which referrals for additional support services are successful or to what organizations those referrals are made.
Anecdotally, TCFV knows that access to these services is woefully inadequate around the State. We hear from advocates
and survivors almost daily about struggles to find legal representation (especially pro bono), affordable housing, child
care, or mental health services.
10
The Availability Update from 2007 provides more details about underserved counties and is available on TCFV’s website at: http://www.tcfv.org/stateplan
For more information about these definitions, reference the Availability Update, published in January 2007 and available on TCFV’s website.
To reference more information about population density and level of services by county, please refer to the 2007 Map Update attached to this Addendum.
Again, review of the Availability Update will provide detailed county-by-county information regarding available services,
whether core emergency services or additional support services. Anyone reviewing the Availability Update should
remember that the availability of services in a given county can change based on resources and needs and that the charts
in the Update provide a picture of a point in time.
Statewide Planning for Increasing Access to Services
Guiding Principles
The 2002 State Plan has been used to advocate for additional funding to expand services and to try to direct those
additional funds toward increasing access to services. The 2002 State Plan and this Blueprint Addendum have as their
foundation the following guiding principles:
•
•
•
Victims of family violence are the experts: Victims of family violence and their perspectives must continue to be
in the forefront of any planning process. Victims of family violence can articulate best the realities they face and
possible solutions to those barriers.
Victims of family violence must have safety, justice and opportunity: Life–saving emergency services and methods
of obtaining justice must be available for all victims of family violence across Texas. Victims of family violence also
need opportunities and resources in order to escape abuse and to rebuild their lives.
Services must meet the specific needs of the community: In order to be effective, services should be communitydriven, developed at the grass root level and tailored to meet the very diverse needs of communities across
Texas. State agencies and funding sources can provide the vital resources to support these community efforts.
Any planning process or funding opportunity should continue to keep these guiding principles in the forefront.
Considerations when Determining Statewide Need
The 2002 State Plan also includes considerations for future development and funding of family violence services:
• Is a region in Texas predominantly underserved?
• Are core emergency services adequately available in the county?
• Are services available to address the critical unmet needs of victims of family violence in the county? 11
• Are there regions with a high concentration of a marginalized population where culturally and linguistically
appropriate services for that population are not available?12
• How does the rate of reported family violence incidents compare with the rate of individuals accessing family
violence services in the county?13
• How dense is the county’s population?
• Is the program victim-centered and empowerment-based?
These guiding principles and considerations have been used by HHSC in several venues since the State Plan was published
in 2002. HHSC used the questions about marginalized communities, unmet needs and population to determine the foci
and the distribution methods for both exceptional funding streams over the past two biennia. HHSC also utilized these
questions for its three-year special project grants focused on unmet needs or marginalized communities. Finally HHSC
used these considerations to develop an assessment of whether additional family violence programs should receive
State funding and if so, which programs would be the best potential contractors. In 2007, as a result of an assessment
conducted by HHSC and TCFV of potential new contractors according to these considerations, two new family violence
contractors will be funded in the 2008-09 biennium.
11
12
13
Besides core emergency services, the following were identified in the 2002 State Plan as areas of unmet need: affordable quality child care, safe affordable housing,
transportation, legal services, employment and job training opportunities and geographic barriers in both scarcely populated and densely populated areas.
In the 2002 State Plan, marginalized populations were identified as: people of color, people with disabilities, people with mental illness, people with substance abuse
problems, people who are immigrants, people who are lesbian, gay bisexual or transgender.
Caution is advised if utilizing this question to determine need. Family violence is very underreported to law enforcement making it difficult to determine if elevated rates of
family violence in a county are due to increased awareness and better services or from a lack of services and lack of understanding of the issue of family violence.
These considerations, along with the Availability Update and Map Update, provide useful tools for determining the needs
of victims of family violence and provide a method of determining planned growth across the state. However, the question
of “planned growth” is still a difficult one. On the one hand, because the array of family violence services in Texas are
not consistently accessible to every victim who may need them (as state earlier, it is estimated that only 4.95% of victims
of family violence receive assistance at family violence programs each year)14, there is no place in the State, urban or
rural, where one can say that the need has been met. On the other hand, when determining where to expand services,
there is a legitimate question as to whether a local community can commit the resources necessary to fully support such
expansion of services. The Human Resource Code outlines that the State can support no more than 50%-75% of the
family violence centers’ budgets, depending on the number of years funded.15 In actuality, the State’s funding supports,
on average, approximately 27%16 of the cost of running a family violence service program, meaning that, on average,
local communities are generating the other 73% of the cost. Because of this, the ability of an organization or community
to support the matching funds required to receive State funding should be considered when planning growth of Statefunded services across Texas.
Since fiscal year 2004, TCFV has facilitated information-gathering, as well as analysis and evaluation, with local Texas
family violence programs on the subject of planned growth ---- whether, and how, to grow access to family violence
services in Texas. Over at least four separate processes since 2004, the first recommendation has been consistent: in
order to ensure sustainability and access to services, HHSC should not add new contractors without increased funding
from the State.
Further, these processes have resulted in recurring recommendations that when HHSC is considering whether to fund
additional programs, HHSC conduct thorough assessments to determine not only the needs in a community, but also the
resources available to support those services. For related reasons – the cost-effectiveness of service expansion – these
recommendations have also generally included asking that HHSC first consider whether an existing contractor could
expand its services to better meet the need before considering whether to fund a new contractor.
In summary, the principles and considerations listed in this section, the 2007 Availability Updates and the 2007 Map
Update are all tools that can continue to assist funders and planners in determining the unmet needs across Texas
regarding family violence services. In addition, careful consideration should be taken to involve existing service providers
in expansions when possible and to expand services only when additional resources become available so that services
for victims in currently served areas do not suffer.
Prevention of Family Violence & Economic Empowerment for Survivors
In recent years, family violence programs in local communities, as well as TCFV and HHSC, have begun to focus more
resources and efforts on two very important issues: prevention of family violence and building economic self-sufficiency
for survivors.
Prevention of Family Violence
With respect to prevention, family violence programs have long known of the critical importance of this work. The struggle
that all family violence service providers face, however, is the allocation of inadequate resources to best serve their
communities ---- when forced to make a choice, it is very challenging to spend precious funds on purely preventative
efforts when there is not enough funding to support the essential life-saving services to meet the growing needs. When a
family violence service provider must turn a victim away from their emergency shelter because they do not have enough
capacity to admit her, it is almost an impossible choice to divert funds away from meeting that victim’s immediate safety
needs in favor of prevention efforts that are so much longer-term in nature and the impact of which is more difficult to
measure. However, all family violence service providers recognize clearly that our society must increase our efforts on
revention or there will never be enough emergency shelter space for those who need it.
14
15
16
This statistic is calculated by utilizing the HHSC estimated number of women experiencing family violence in 2006 (982,916) and the numbers of adult victims served by
HHSC-funded programs in fiscal year 2006 (48,610).
Texas Human Resource Code, Chapter 51.
Information provided by HHSC Family Violence Program based on statistics from September 2005 through August 2006. More and more family violence service providers are working to try to prevent family violence before it starts by addressing
factors in the social environment that influence perpetration, victimization and by-stander behaviors. Effective primary
prevention programming aims to shift a community’s values and beliefs and is long-term, comprehensive and strategic:
taking place at the individual, relationship, community and society levels and involve a spectrum of strategies. For
example, programs have developed efforts working with youth and schools with the goal of creating healthy norms for
relationships and healthy communities. Additionally, school districts and other systems are beginning to focus some
attention on these issues as well. Recent legislative changes have required school districts to adopt policies and practices
that address sexual harassment, bullying and teen dating violence on their campuses.
As noted above, for the 2008-09 biennium, the Texas Legislature has appropriated $2 million in additional “exceptional
item” funding, and HHSC has indicated its intention to allocate some of that exceptional item funding in contracts with
providers for specific work on prevention of family violence.
In addition, TCFV is expanding its efforts to support local family violence service providers and other grass roots,
community-based organizations in their prevention work. TCFV secured private funding to supply “micro-grants” to
support these grassroots efforts to end family violence. TCFV is also in the process of surveying local family violence
providers to better understand their current prevention activities and their needs for future support. TCFV will use this
information to support, encourage and assist local prevention efforts around the State.
Through critical stakeholders such as the Office of the Attorney General and, at the federal level, the Violence Against
Women Act, prevention efforts are gaining ground and building attention to the need for our entire society to work to end
family violence. Perhaps the most important element to be remembered, however, is that prevention efforts cannot come
at the expense of essential services to victims in immediate need.
Economic Empowerment for Survivors
In addition to the core crisis intervention services that victims of family violence need, such as emergency shelter, advocacy
services, protective orders, and advocacy with law enforcement, many victims face overwhelming economic obstacles
to long-term safety and security, including access to affordable housing, employment, child care, legal representation,
public benefits, etc. Very often, victims have suffered financial abuse and isolation by their batterers, have been prohibited
from holding their own jobs or from having access to any of the family’s income. For these and other reasons, many
victims of family violence know that they will confront potentially frightening poverty when they leave an abusive situation.
An emergency shelter may be essential to saving someone’s life in the immediate crisis, but it is not, by itself, a long-term
solution to her situation.
Family violence service providers are well aware of these challenges and struggle to help their clients find a place to live,
a lawyer, a job, satisfactory child care, access to benefits to which they are entitled, and all the other necessary steps to
building safe and self-sufficient lives for themselves and their families.
TCFV has expanded its efforts to support local family violence programs in their work to help survivors build selfsufficiency. With funding from HHSC and other funders, TCFV initiated in 2007 a new Economic Justice Summit, a oneday in-depth conference for family violence advocates to learn new tools in helping their clients begin to achieve some
economic independence and freedom from violence. TCFV has also developed brochures and technical assistance
resources for programs and survivors on economic justice efforts and also has capacity for providing ongoing advocacy
and support of these efforts.
Additionally, as noted earlier, HHSC has determined to use a portion of the exceptional item funding appropriated by the
Legislature this session to support HHSC contractors in the kinds of transitional support services that victims of family
violence so often need, including housing, legal representation, child care, and job training. With resources specifically
targeted to these services, local family violence programs can begin to make significant differences in the opportunities
for their clients to change their lives. These services are the next step beyond core emergency services and represent a
true investment by the State in helping victims create safe and self-sufficient lives, free of violence.
While it is commendable that HHSC Family Violence Program is focusing on such transitional support service, careful
consideration should be taken that this expansion does not lead to a loss in critical core emergency services which is the
primary mission set forth in Chapter 51 of the Human Resource Code and the Family Violence Prevention and Services
Act. Because the unmet needs of victims of family violence are so great, especially in the area of economic stability, there
is a need for more state and federal agencies and advocacy groups to partner with each other to find additional funding
streams for such vital services.
Disaster Readiness
In 2005, Texas experienced the very serious impacts of natural disaster when thousands of evacuees from Louisiana
came to our State after Hurricane Katrina and when only a few weeks later Hurricane Rita landed on the Texas coast,
forcing many coastal family violence programs to evacuate their own clients. For family violence programs in Beaumont
and Galveston, for example, the staff were forced to figure out how and where to safely evacuate their clients, while also
arranging for the evacuation of their own families. In Houston particularly, as well as Dallas and Austin, family violence
programs were called into extra service to help their communities provide assistance to sudden neighbors who had been
evacuated from Louisiana.
Texas local family violence programs helped each other and coordinated their efforts to ensure that family violence
victims were kept safe during needed evacuations. Family violence programs in East, Central and North Texas stepped up
to take in evacuees from those programs in the path of Hurricane Rita, and evacuating programs transferred their hotlines
to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
TCFV and HHSC endeavored to help programs in the immediate planning for hurricane response and in longer-term
recovery efforts. TCFV and HHSC gathered information and resources from around the State and the nation to ensure
that both evacuating programs and those programs accepting evacuees had good tools to decide their course of action
and to get back to normal when danger passed.
Going forward, there were many lessons learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and TCFV has worked with all the
family violence programs in Texas, particularly those on the Gulf Coast and in likely paths of hurricanes, to develop and
coordinate evacuation and response plans. With TCFV and the National Domestic Violence Hotline as resources to assist
with coordination of essential services, most local family violence programs have developed disaster plans for themselves
and have made arrangements for possible future evacuations with sister programs.
In 2006, TCFV conducted a series of meetings with family violence programs across Texas and asked for stakeholder
feedback on how state agencies could be responsive in future natural disasters. The following recommendations were
made:
• Create a method to account for potential losses in funding due to evacuating programs decreased numbers
served.
• Create a method for additional funds to support programs that provided services to evacuees.
• Create flexible funding streams that could be used for atypical projects such as re-building of programs’
infrastructure.
HHSC was responsive to these requests ---- HHSC assisted in obtaining disaster relief payments for certain family violence
programs that experienced unpredicted expenses in direct response to the two hurricanes. Further, the HHSC Family
Violence Program implemented policies to ensure that their funding formulas, which take into account the number of
services provided to victims, did not penalize those programs that were forced to evacuate, but did appropriately address
the circumstances of the other family violence programs who took in extra clients as a result of the evacuations.
Texas family violence programs are accustomed to operating with crisis situations and as a result of the experiences
responding to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, these programs, along with support from TCFV, are assessing their readiness
for and developing tools to respond to future possible disasters.
Conclusion
This 2007 “Blueprint Addendum” to the 2002 “Access to Safety, Justice and Opportunity: A Blueprint for Domestic
Violence Interventions in Texas” provides an updated summary of current statistics regarding family violence in Texas;
updated information regarding the resources provided by the State of Texas to address family violence; a brief overview of
availability of services (see the Availability Update for more detail);discussion of statewide planning for increased access
to family violence services; new information regarding efforts in Texas to prevent family violence and to address economic
empowerment of survivors; and information regarding disaster readiness, in light of the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita on Texas family violence programs in 2005.
It is vital that core emergency services continue to be funded and accessible to victims across Texas and that assessments
of gaps in this accessibility be conducted often and with consideration of the diverse needs of all communities and
victims. It is also important to consider that in order to work towards ending family violence added transitional support
services and well-planned, community-driven prevention efforts must be created and supported. In order to accomplish
all of these goals, more funding opportunities for these efforts must be created and distributed across Texas.
In conclusion, this update is not meant to replace the vital recommendations which were published in the 2002 State Plan,
which were developed out of extensive focus groups with diverse groups of victims of family violence and advocates from
across Texas and which are still relevant today, five years later. The 2002 State Plan and 2007 Availability Update, along
with this Addendum and Map Update, should serve as tools for funders and planners for assessing the ongoing needs of
victims of family violence across Texas or in any given community or county in Texas.
Since 1978, the Texas Council on Family Violence (TCFV) has been a leader in the efforts to end
family violence through partnerships, advocacy and direct services for women, children and men.
TCFV is one of the largest domestic violence coalitions in the nation, with more than 100 staff and
650 members.
Membership is composed of family violence service providers, supportive organizations, survivors
of domestic violence, businesses and professionals, communities of faith and other concerned
individuals.
TCFV is a nonprofit organization with a blended funding base of federal, state, private and public
support. As a membership-based organization, TCFV maintains a goal to serve its members, the
Texas community as a whole and thousands of victims of domestic violence and their families.
This project was supported by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
Program Definitions
Definition of a Shelter Facility: A
shelter facility that provides access,
admittance and temporary emergency
residence for victims of family violence
24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Organizations that only use hotels to
provide shelter services or that have
a homeless shelter not specifically
for victims of family violence were not
counted as having an emergency shelter facility.
Definition of a Satellite Shelter: A
shelter facility , as defined above, located in a city other than a family violence
service provider’s main city.
Definition of Outreach Office: Office
location of a family violence service
provider located in a city other than the
center’s main city.
Definition of Non-Residential Services: A family violence service provider
that offers some services to victims of
family violence which do not include
shelter services. This includes HHSCfunded comprehensive non-residential
centers. Definition of Special Projects :
HHSC-funded innovative projects or
services to benefit unserved and underserved victims of family violence.
Directory Key
Shelter Facilty
Satellite Shelter
Outreach Office
Non-Residential Services
SP
Bexar County [8]
Putting an End to Abuse through
Community Efforts (PEACE
Initiative) (San Antonio)
SP
F.A.C.T./ San Antonio Police
Department (San Antonio)
HHSC Special Project
Family Justice Center (San Antonio)
Receives Funding from
Texas HHSC
The Diversity Center of San Antonio
(San Antonio)
Anderson County [1]
Crisis Center of Anderson and
Cherokee Counties (Palestine)
Angelina County [2]
Women’s Shelter of East Texas
(Lufkin)
Atascosa County [3]
Atascosa Family Crisis Center, Inc.
(Pleasanton)
Bowie County [9]
Domestic Violence Prevention
(Texarkana)
Brazoria County [10]
Women’s Center of Brazoria Co.
(Angleton)
Women’s Center of Brazoria Co.
(Alvin)
Brown County [13]
The Ark (Brownwood)
Colorado County [21]
Family Crisis Center (Columbus)
Dallas County [26]
Catholic Charities of Dallas, Inc.
(Dallas)
Erath County [34]
Cross Timbers Family Services
(Stephenville)
This document is an update to the
Access to Safety, Justice and Opportunity: A Blueprint for Domestic Violence
Interventions in Texas which was first
published in 2002. Bandera County [4]
Hill Country Crisis Council, Inc.
(Bandera)
Bastrop County [5]
Family Crisis Center (Bastrop)
Bee County [6]
Women’s Shelter of South Texas
(Beeville)
Harris County [49]
Bay Area Turning Point (Webster)
Burnet County [14]
Highland Lakes Family Crisis Center
(Marble Falls)
Comal County [22]
Crisis Center of Comal County
(New Braunfels)
Resource Center of Dallas
(Dallas)
SP
Caldwell County [15]
Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center
(Lockhart)
Calhoun County [16]
The Harbor Children’s Alliance &
Victim Center (Port Lavaca)
Cameron County [17]
Friendship of Women, Inc.
(Brownsville)
Family Crisis Center, Inc. (Harlingen)
Friendship of Women, Inc. (Los
Fresnos)
Cooke County [23]
Cooke County Friends of the
Family, Inc. (Gainesville)
Coryell County [24]
Families in Crisis, Inc. (Gatesville)
Culberson County [25]
Center Against Family Violence
(Dalhart)
Dallas County [26]
The Family Place (Dallas)
Mosaic Family Services, Inc.
(Dallas)
Fannin County [35]
Fannin Co. Family Crisis Center
(Bonham)
Gray County [41]
Tralee Crisis Center for Women
(Pampa)
Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse
(Houston)
Victims Outreach (Dallas)
Fayette County [36]
Family Crisis Center (La Grange)
Grayson County [42]
Crisis Center (Sherman)
Deaf Smith County [27]
Deafsmith County Crisis Center
(Hereford)
Denton County [28]
Denton County Friends of the
Family (Denton)
Denton County Friends of the
Family (Lewisville)
Dimmit County [29]
Wintergarden Women’s Shelter,
Inc. (Carrizo Springs)
Fort Bend County [37]
Fort Bend County Women’s
Center, Inc. (Richmond)
Fort Bend County Women’s
Center, Inc. (Rosenberg)
Fort Bend County Women’s
Center, Inc. (Stafford)
Fort Bend County Women’s
Center, Inc. (Sugarland)
Gregg County [43]
Kilgore Community Crisis Center,
Inc. (Kilgore)
Women’s Center of East Texas
(Longview)
Guadalupe County [45]
Guadalupe Valley Family Violence
Shelter (Seguin)
Hale County [46]
Hale County Crisis Center
(Plainview)
Families in Crisis, Inc. (Temple)
Bexar County [8]
Family Violence Prevention
Services, Inc. (San Antonio)
Kendall County [64]
Hill Country Crisis Council, Inc.
(Boerne)
Hidalgo County [54]
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
(Weslaco)
Kerr County [65]
Hill Country Crisis Council, Inc.
(Kerrville)
Montrose Counseling CenterServices to GLBT DV Victims
(Houston)
Hill County [55]
Hearts of Hope (Whitney)
Kinney County [66]
Amistad Family Violence and Rape
Crisis Center (Bracketville)
Northwest Assistance Ministries’
Family Violence Center (Houston)
Hood County [56]
Mission Granbury, Inc. (Granbury)
Asians Against Domestic Abuse
(Houston)
Houston County [57]
Women’s Shelter of East Texas
(Crockett)
YMCA of the Greater Houston Area
(Houston)
Katy Christian Ministries Domestic
Abuse Center (Katy)
Rapha Ministries, Inc. (Houston)
Women’s Center of Brazoria Co.
(Freeport)
Women’s Center of Brazoria Co.
(Pearland)
Women’s Center of Brazoria Co.
(West Columbia)
Friendship of Women, Inc. (Port
Isabel)
Men’s Resource Center of South
Texas, Inc. (Harlingen)
Cass County [18]
Domestic Violence Prevention
(Atlanta)
The Salvation Army - DV Shelter
(Dallas)
Eastland County [30]
Eastland County Crisis Center,
Inc. (Eastland)
Frio County [38]
Southwest Family Life Center
(Pearsall)
Hamilton County [47]
Families in Crisis, inc. (Hamilton)
Brazos County [11]
Phoebe’s Home (Twin City Mission)
(Bryan)
Brewster County [12]
Family Crisis Center of the Big Bend
(Alpine)
Brewster County [12]
Family Crisis Center of the Big Bend
(Terlingua)
McLennan County [76]
Family Abuse Center, Inc. (Waco)
New Beginning Center (Garland)
Ector County [31]
The Crisis Center (Odessa)
Galveston County [39]
Resource and Crisis Center of
Galveston County (Galveston)
Women’s Center of East Texas
(Marshall)
Resource and Crisis Center of
Galveston County (Crystal Beach)
Cherokee County [19]
Crisis Center of Anderson and
Cherokee Counties (Jacksonville)
Harris County [49]
New Horizon Family Center
(Baytown)
Brighter Tomorrows (DeSoto)
Haskell County [51]
Noah Project, Inc. (Haskell)
Edwards County [32]
Amistad Family Violence and
Rape Crisis Center (Rocksprings)
Resource and Crisis Center of
Galveston County (League City)
Houston Area Women’s Center
(Houston)
Hays County [52]
Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center
(San Marcus)
Collin County [20]
Hope’s Door (Plano)
Brighter Tomorrows (Irving)
New Beginning Center (Mesquite)
El Paso County [33]
Center Against Family Violence
(El Paso)
Resource and Crisis Center of
Galveston County (Santa Fe)
Hunt County [58]
Women in Need (Greenville)
Lamar County [69]
Family Haven Crisis & Resource
Center (Paris)
Montgomery County [79]
Montgomery County Women’s
Center (The Woodlands)
Moore County [80]
Safe Place, Inc. (Dumas)
Nacogdoches County [81]
Women’s Shelter of East Texas
(Nacogdoches)
Women in Need (Commerce)
Women in Need (Quinlan)
Lee County [70]
Family Crisis Center (Giddings)
Hutchinson County [59]
Hutchinson County Crisis Center,
Inc. (Borger)
Liberty County [71]
New Horizon Family Center
(Dayton)
Jasper County [60]
Family Services Women &
Children’s Shelter (Jasper)
Lubbock County [72]
Women’s Protective Services of
Lubbock, Inc (Lubbock)
Jefferson County [61]
Family Services Women &
Children’s Shelter (Beaumont)
Matagorda County [73]
Matagorda County Women’s Crisis
Center (Bay City)
FamilyTime Foundation, Inc.
(Humble)
Jim Wells County [62]
Women’s Shelter of South Texas
(Alice)
Newton County [82]
Family Services Women &
Children’s Shelter (Newton)
Nolan County [83]
Gateway Family Services
(Sweetwater)
The Bridge Over Troubled Waters
(Pasadena)
Maverick County [74]
Wintergarden Women’s Shelter, Inc.
(Eagle Pass)
Nueces County [84]
Women’s Shelter of South Texas
(Corpus Christi)
Ochiltree County [85]
Panhandle Crisis Center (Perryton)
Orange County [86]
Family Services Women &
Children’s Shelter (Orange)
Palo Pinto County [87]
Hope, Inc. (Mineral Wells)
Henderson County [53]
East Texas Crisis Center (Athens)
Resource and Crisis Center of
Galveston County (Texas City)
La Salle County [68]
Wintergarden Women’s Shelter, Inc.
(Cotulla)
Midland County [78]
Safe Place of the Permian Basin
(Midland)
Hansford County [48]
Panhandle Crisis Center (Snyder)
Brighter Tomorrows
(Grand Prairie)
Safe Place of the Permian Basin
(Odessa)
Kleberg County [67]
Women’s Shelter of South Texas
(Kingsville)
Medina County [77]
Southwest Family Life Center
(Hondo)
SP
Harrison County [50]
Kilgore Community Crisis Center,
Inc. (Marshall)
Genesis Women’s Shelter (Dallas)
Bell County [7]
Families in Crisis, Inc. (Killeen)
Hidalgo County [54]
Mujeres Unidas/Women Together
(McAllen)
SP
HHSC Funding
HHSC FVP-funded organizations:
Organizations listed in the charts that
are funded by the HHSC FVP. These
organizations are funded as either: full
service shelter centers with comprehensive nonresidential services,
full service nonresidential centers or
special projects which provide either
a specialized service to marginalized
communities or community outreach.
For more information about which organizations are HHSC FVP funded, go
to: http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/programs/familyviolence/shelters.html.
Non-HHSC FVP funded organizations
Other organizations listed in the charts
are ones that are not funded through
HHSC. Many are either emerging
programs or organizations that provide
faith-based services that do not seek
government funding. This list may not
be comprehensive as not all known
organizations completed the survey
and some emerging programs may not
be known to TCFV.
Gillespie County [40]
Hill Country Crisis Council, Inc.
(Fredericksburg)
Johnson County [63]
Family Crisis Center (Cleburne)
McCulloch County [75]
Family Shelter of McCulloch Co.,
Inc. (Brady)
Population Density Key
HANSFORD
48
Persons Per Square Mile
80
540.0 to 915.9
59
CARSON
POTTER
275.9 to 425.0
70.0 to 99.9
CASTRO
PARMER
SWISHER
CHILDRESS
20.0 to 39.9
10.0 to 19.9
HARDEMAN
LAMB
BAILEY
FLOYD
HALE
WICHITA
CLAY
88
MONATGUE
YOAKUM
TERRY
LYNN
GAINES
SCURRY
County Does Not Meet Threshold,
No Services Available
HOWARD
MITCHELL
102
88
87
101
McCULLOCH
NOLAN
83
EL PASO
ECTOR
30
WINKLER
31
25
WARD
MIDLAND
30
103
78
75
76
1
HOUSTON
LEON
7
WILLIAMSON
111
HAYS
64
66
BEXAR
MEDINA
15
GUADALUPE
8
MAVERICK
ZAVALA
123
74
3
38
GOLIAD
113
BEE
DIMMIT
REFUGIO
6
68
ARANSAS
WEBB
SAN PATRICIO
96
JIM WELLS
DUVAL
San Augustine County [95]
Women’s Shelter of East Texas
(San Augustine)
GALVESTON
10
San Patricio County [96]
Women’s Shelter of South Texas
(Sinton)
CALHOUN
LIVE OAK
29
73
VICTORIA
61
39
BRAZORIA
MATAGORDA
KARNES
FRIO
37
JACKSON
ATACOSA
SafeHaven of Tarrant County
Resource Center Northeast
(Bedford)
Voices Against Violence: UT
Counseling and Mental Health
Center (Austin)
16
San Saba County [97]
Dove Project - City of San Saba
(San Saba)
Williamson County [120]
Hope Alliance (Round Rock)
Battered Women’s Foundation
(Hurst)
Tyler County [108]
Family Services Women &
Children’s Shelter (Woodville)
Taylor County [103]
Noah Project, Inc. (Abilene)
Upshur County [109]
Women’s Center of East Texas
(Gilmer)
Titus County [104]
Shelter Agencies for Families
in East Texas (SAFE-T) (Mt.
Pleasant)
Uvalde County [110]
Southwest Family Life Center
(Uvalde)
Tom Green County [105]
NewBridge Family Shelter (San
Angelo)
Travis County [106]
SafePlace Domestic Violence and
Sexual Assault Survival Center
(Austin)
Val Verde County [111]
Amistad Family Violence and
Rape Crisis Center (Del Rio)
Van Zandt County [112]
East Texas Crisis Center (Canton)
NUECES
62
84
KLEBURG
Scurry County [98]
Gateway Family Services (Snyder)
67
BROOKS
ZAPATA
STARR
WILLACY
54
Deaf Abused Women & Children
Advocacy Services (Austin)
Victoria County [113]
Mid-Coast Family Services
(Victoria)
SP
HILDAGO
100
119
CAMERON
17
Smith County [99]
East Texas Crisis Center (Tyler)
Willacy County [119]
Family Crisis Center, Inc.
(Raymondville)
Trinity County [107]
SAAFE House (Trinity)
FT. BEND
117
DeWITT
CHAMBERS
49
WHARTON
WILSON
86
JEFFERSON
HARRIS
21
ORANGE
71
Wharton County [117]
Matagorda County Women’s
Crisis Center (Wharton)
Muslimaat (Austin)
HARDIN
115
AUSTIN
COLORADO
LAVACA
GONZLAES
45
77
110
36
CALDWELL
22
4
UVALDE
COMAL
5
FAYETTE
Rusk County [94]
Kilgore Community Crisis Center,
Inc. (Henderson)
LIBERTY
79
WALLER
WASHINGTON
BASTROP
52
KENDALL
BANDERA
70
108
SAN JACINTO
MONTGOMERY
LEE
108
KERR
REAL
114
82
60
TYLER
89
WALKER
BURLESON
TRAVIS
NEWTON
POLK
BRAZOS
120
40
65
GRIMES
SABINE
Helping Hands - RockWall
County (Rockwall)
JASPER
107
MADISON
SP
95
2
TRINITY
MILAM
14
ANGELINA
57
BURNET
VAL VERDE
SHELBY
NACOGDOCHES
81
ROBERTSON
LLANO
BLANCO
PANOLA
Rockwall County [93]
Women in Need (Rockwall)
SP
94
19
FALLS
BELL
GILLESPIE
RUSK
CHEROKEE
ANDERSON
McLENNAN
24
116
For counties not listed in directory, please view the charts in the Availability of Family Violence Services Across Texas
(2007 update) for more information. The update is available at www.tcfv.org/stateplan
NAVARRO
LAMPASAS
97
50
43
LIMESTONE
SAN SABA
McCULLOCH
105
55
MARION
GREGG
99
FREESTONE
CORYELL
32
Reagan County [92]
Friends for Hope (Big Lake)
18
109
SMITH
53
47
MILLS
UPSHUR
HENDERSON
HAMILTON
TOM GREEN
If a county has neither:
a. any family violence organizations that provide direct access
(face-to-face) services in that county, nor 12
91
b. any family violence organizations in an adjacent county that
have, at a minimum, an emergency hotline covering that county and
transportation services to their emergency shelter, intervention and legal
assistance services; then it does not meet the minimum threshold of core emergency services. This
determination was not made with consideration of geography or population size of
counties. In any further assessment of gaps of services based on this data, it is important to
keep geography and population size in mind.
CASS
HARRISON
112
63
HILL
CRANE
92
104
122
VAN ZANDT
ELLIS
BOSQUE
13
KAUFFMAN
SOMERVELL
COMANCHE
BROWN
COLEMAN
34
WOOD
RAINES
93
26
JOHNSON
56
ERATH
EASTLAND
CALLAHAN
TAYLOR
RUNNELS
58
ROCKWALL
DALLAS
TARRANT
PARKER
PALO PINTO
STEPHENS
HOOD
MARTIN
HOPKINS
20
28
121
HUNT
Webb County [116]
Casa De Misericordia (Laredo)
Wichita County [118]
First Step Inc. (Wichita Falls)
SafeHaven of Tarrant County
(Fort Worth)
9
TITUS
CAMP
JONES
98
COLLIN
DENTON
WISE
JACK
YOUNG
HASKELL
GARZA
DAWSON
ANDREWS
BOWIE
92
DELTA
51
County Does Not Meet Threshold but
Some Level of Service is Provided
69
FANNIN
42
23
72
Service Provision Key
GRAYSON
COOKE
ARCHER
CROSBY
NE
LUBBOCK
SAN
AUGUS
TI
HOCKLEY
FRANKLIN
COCHRAN
RED RIVER
LAMAR
MORRIS
46
Up to 4.9
Definition of Not Meeting the Minimum
Threshold of Core Emergency Services:
Presidio County [91]
Family Crisis Center of the Big
Bend (Presidio)
WILBARGER
5.0 to 9.9
Tarrant County [102]
SafeHaven of Tarrant County
(Arlington)
Waller County [115]
Focusing Families (Hempstead)
SP
Texas Advocacy Project, Inc.
(Austin)
Potter County [90]
Family Support Services
(Amarillo)
27
40.0 to 69.9
Travis County [106]
Political Asylum Project of Austin
(Austin)
Saheli (Austin)
Stephens County [101]
Eastland County Crisis Center,
Inc. (Breckenridge)
ARMSTRONG
RANDALL
DEAF SMITH
Starr County [100]
Victims of Domestic Violence
Assistance Program (Rio Grande
City)
Polk County [89]
SAAFE House (Livingston)
WHEELER
GRAY
41
90
100.0 to 259.9
85
HUTCHINSON
MOORE
1236.0 to 2644.9
Parker County [88]
Freedom House (Weatherford)
OCHILTREE
Migrant Clinicians Network, Inc.
(Austin)
SP
Walker County [114]
SAAFE House (Huntsville)
Wise County [121]
Wise County Domestic Violence
Task Force (Bridgeport)
Wise County Domestic Violence
Task Force (Decatur)
Wood County [122]
East Texas Crisis Center
(Mineola)
Zavala County [123]
Wintergarden Women’s Shelter,
Inc. (Crystal City)
Availability of Core
Emergency Services
Across Texas
2007 MAP UPDATE