Welfare Workers’ Responses to Domestic Violence Cases: The Effects of Training and Worker Characteristics

Abstract

This study evaluated a one-day domestic violence training for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) workers and analyzed the relationship between worker characteristics and the use of work exemptions. In a post-only evaluation, trained workers reported a greater tendency than untrained workers to refer clients to couples counseling, make a safety plan, and file a report to child protection services. In a pre/post evaluation, workers reported after training that they would be less likely to refer clients to couples counseling, and more likely to ask about the emotional and physical impact of abuse, make a safety plan, and ask about access to weapons.Workers most likely to offer a waiver from work requirements reported a higher likelihood of making referrals for a variety of services.A number of concerns have surfaced recently regarding the response of welfare workers to instances of domestic violence. Evidence indicates that domestic violence is present in a high percentage of cases, yet is usually undetected. In addition, policies that require work or work training might place victims in more danger. Lifetime rates of domestic violence among women on welfare range from 34% to 65% (GAO, 1998; Tolman 8c Raphael, 2000), and most studies find rates between 20% and 30% for recent abuse (GAO, 1998;Lyon, 2002; Tolman 8c Raphael, 2000). A national policy shift has also heightened concerns. With the passage of the Personal Responsibility and WorkOpportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, welfare as a cash entitlement program for families living in poverty ended and was replaced with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The Act sets strict work requirements for maintaining benefits, with a benefit limit of two consecutive years, and a five-year lifetime limit.New requirements may keep survivors in abusive relationships because domestic violence can interfere with employment and might subsequently reduce benefit compliance. Economic resources are often necessary to helping women leave and remain out of abusive relationships (Anderson 8c Saunders, 2003;Rhodes 8c McKenzie, 1998).These resources can take the form of monetary incentives for welfare recipients to obtain work and in one experiment such incentives were related to higher employment and lower rates of domestic violence (Gennetian, 2003).Work or work training can become difficult because many women are harassed, stalked, abused, and intimidated by their ex-partners (GAO, 1998;Lyon, 2002;Moore & Selkowe, 1999;Sable et al., 1999; Romero, Chavkin, Wise, 8c Smith, 2003; Staggs 8c Riger, 2005; Swanberg 8c Logan, 2005 (Brush, 2000; GAO, 1998;Tolman & Raphael, 2000;Tolman & Rosen, 2001). Such emotional problems can interfere with work and work training (CIMHCalWORKS, 2002a;Meisel, Chandler & Rienzi, 2003) and thus battered women risk losing their work and their benefits (Moore & Selkowe, 1999). Many believe that rigid work requirements may lead to an escalation of abuse because many offenders feel threatened by their partners' indepe...

Domestic Violence and Treatment Seeking: A Longitudinal Study of Low-Income Women and Mental Health/Substance Abuse Care

“…One study maintains that 54 percent of TANF recipients are in need of services addressing domestic violence (41), while another finds only 9 percent of TANF recipients are actually screened for domestic violence (42). Not surprisingly, those screened by appropriately trained workers are likelier to be referred for domestic violence services than those screened by untrained workers (43).…”

Intimate Partner Violence and Welfare Participation

“…The relationship between treatment seeking for IPV and participation in welfare remains unexplored. However, TANF programs do feature a “Family Violence Option” under which work stipulations are waived for IPV victims (Pyles, 2006; Seefeldt & Orzol, 2005); through this opportunity, trained TANF staff help victims develop safety plans and refer them for other services (Saunders, Holter, Pahl, & Tolman, 2006). But only 9% of TANF recipients are screened for IPV (Lindhorst, Meyers, & Casey, 2008).…”

Preparing Mental Health Professionals to Work With Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence: A Comprehensive Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Of the studies included, MHPs included MFTs, social workers, counselors, psychologists, IPV service providers, substance abuse counselors, welfare managers, social work students, and family and marriage therapy students. Five themes were identified including lack of preparation and inadequate training in DV (Dersch et al, 2006;Fedina et al, 2017;Karakurt et al, 2013;Kress et al, 2008;Murray et al, 2015;Raphael-Dudley et al, 2008;Schneider, 2018;Todahl et al, 2008), benefits of DV training (Forgey et al, 2013;Kulkarni et al, 2015;McCloskey & Grigsby, 2005;Payne et al, 2007;Saunders et al, 2006), need for collaboration between service providers (Capezza et al, 2014;Macy & Goodbourn, 2012;Macy et al, 2009), stigmatizing attitudes and behaviors toward survivors (Crowe & Murray, 2015), and the advocate-survivor connection (Bogat et al, 2013;Wood, 2017). These studies can be found in Table 2.…”

“…Mental Health Professionals and Domestic Violence (DV) Training.From this review, we found that formal DV training revealed a plethora of benefits. Multiple authors found that MHPs who received DV training were more prepared to work with survivors and showed improvement in their ability to administer assessments and safety plans(McCloskey & Grigsby, 2005;Saunders et al, 2006). Additionally, agencies with DV training and policies embedded into their organization were more likely to have MHPs participate in those trainings suggesting that organizational support increased participation…”