Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act of 2021
Floor Speech
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Mrs. McBATH. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Bobby Scott of the Education and Labor Committee and staff, and my colleagues that have joined me on this policy and lifesaving legislation for the diligence and the commitment towards keeping Americans safe and saving lives.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act, a long overdue reauthorization of the Nation's oldest law providing Federal support to survivors of intimate partner violence. Known as FVPSA, this law is the primary source of Federal funding for intimate partner violence prevention and services and provides vital services for victims all over the United States.
This bill funds shelters, State domestic violence coalitions, a national domestic violence hotline, and national resource centers that offer technical assistance to service providers. Despite its pivotal role in combatting domestic violence, FVPSA has not been reauthorized since 2015. It is far past time that Congress acts to pass a comprehensive reauthorization of this vital law.
During this pandemic, we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of cases of family and domestic violence. While attempting to stay safe from the COVID-19 virus that has swept this country, many children and families were forced to face the violence that awaited them inside their own homes and further isolated them from their support systems.
Violence in the home can have a tragic and drastic effect on children, stunting their emotional and cognitive growth and affecting their performance in school and their social development. This early trauma can cause long-lasting effects in a person's life and impact their success as adults. We must make sure that our children and their families have the resources they need to prevent domestic violence and abuse.
I have seen too many families in my home State of Georgia suffer at the hands of domestic and family violence. We must protect these families and families all across the Nation.
This legislation has broad bipartisan support within both Chambers of Congress and from stakeholders on the front lines of combatting domestic violence in America. Our community partners recognize that this legislation is critical to protecting and supporting our families and our children.
The reauthorization makes key changes to current law, most importantly, by ensuring equitable access to resources for Native Tribes and Tribal coalitions, authorizing a Tribal domestic violence hotline, authorizing resource centers for Alaska Native and LGBTQ populations, expanding funding for prevention so that every State and coalition receives prevention resources, and authorizing grants for underserved populations and culturally specific services for racial and ethnic minority groups. It helps provide survivors a way up, a way out, and a way forward.
Some of my colleagues have argued that the LGBTQ anti-discrimination clause in this legislation will result in discrimination against religious organizations who provide services to victims of domestic violence. This could not be further from the truth.
Madam Speaker, I include in the Record a letter in support of this legislation from the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. The Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of Chicago, Chicago, IL, October 15, 2021. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives Washington, DC. Rep. Bobby Scott, Chairman, House Committee on Education & Labor, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Rep. Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader, House of Representatives Washington, DC. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Republican Leader, House of Representatives Washington, DC.
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Chairman Scott, and Republican Leader McCarthy: Catholic Charities is one of the largest social services providers in the Midwest, and I am honored to serve as its Chief Program Officer.
For 104 years, Catholic Charities has served and accompanied anyone in need in Greater Chicago. Every year, Charities' helps nearly 200 survivors of domestic violence and those at high risk through emergency shelter, safety planning, counseling, legal services, and transitional housing. Our wrap-around services and partnerships help survivors and in many cases their children improve stability and restore security.
Pre-pandemic, we knew that people experiencing domestic violence in Illinois were 95% women, 55% Black, and 13% Latinx. Forty-three percent resided in Chicago and 40% were low-income.
The survivors we serve at Catholic Charities Chicago face staggering challenges. One hundred percent live below the federal poverty line. They come to us as survivors of intergenerational trauma. They fear losing their children. They often have prolonged exposure to substance use and are experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Almost universally, they are in poor physical and emotional health.
Survivors are often isolated due to cultural factors, language barriers, lack of familial support, and lack of awareness of their lawful protections. Moreover, they have inadequate support once they leave the abusive situation.
It is often the church, and Catholic Charities, to which survivors turn. The role of trusted, faith-based providers in this service arena is profound.
COVID-19 has only compounded the struggles faced by survivors. Since the pandemic began, the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline reports a 15% increase in calls and a 2,000% increase in text messages requesting help. Additional burdens include financial stress, unemployment, isolation, increased family conflict, and deepening mental health issues. For persons experiencing domestic abuse, lockdowns and other COVID restrictions have forced them to spend more time with their abuser and less time with their support networks, increasing survivors' difficulty trying to flee.
A grim reality is that flight from an abusive situation often leaves survivors without a place to call home. In response, Catholic Charities operates two transitional housing programs for domestic violence survivors. While families are in a safe environment, Charities supports them on their journey toward healing and recovery with a long-term goal of securing permanent housing and stable employment. We offer free legal services including facilitating orders of protection and court representation in matters of child support and custody.
Although survivors may reside with us for up to two years, families typically transition after 12 to 14 months. Once a one-year housing agreement is secured, Charities arranges for the family to move into its new home. With Charities support, survivors arrive with a truckload of furniture, household supplies and clothing, and often with savings between $2,000 and $3,000.
Most important is their increased self-sufficiency and their deep connection to a supportive, faith-based community. Our presence continues in many survivors' lives through after care programming. For instance, past residents attend support groups, in English and Spanish. Survivors continue coming to us for food, clothing, school supplies, and other necessities.
Even through COVID, 100% of the survivors we have served remained in stable permanent housing. Prior to COVID, 68% sustained full-time employment; today employment is an ongoing struggle. Moreover, since the pandemic, Charities has seen a 25% increase in survivors coming back to us for basic necessities. Some may not have worked with our team in years--but our doors remain open.
This past winter, we began offering new services for survivors of domestic violence on the Westside of Chicago, where African American and Latinx communities have been hardest hit by COVID. Our staff offer trauma-informed counseling and intensive case management. We are collaborating with churches, hospitals, and others to expand access to free, confidential services for survivors. Together we are helping people regain control of their lives and begin their healing process.
Catholic Charities fulfills the Church's role in the mission of charity to anyone in need by providing compassionate, competent and professional services that strengthen and support individuals, families and communities based on the value and dignity of human life.
That's why the FVPSA Re-Authorization Act of 2021 (H.R. 2119) is so important to Catholic Charities and to survivors in faith communities all across the country. Our shelters and healing recovery programs help survivors rebuild their lives with hope and dignity.
Thank you for your leadership and the Committee's work to eradicate gender-based violence through the bipartisan Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA), H.R. 2119. Catholic Charities endorses H.R. 2119 which will provide core supports and enhance comprehensive responses to domestic violence and urges Members to vote YES on final passage. FVPSA provides critical support for shelters, coalitions, training and technical assistance centers, children's services, emergency response hotlines, supportive services, and prevention initiatives.
We must continue to consider the ripple effect violence imposes on the health and well-being of IPV survivors. Access to resources and continuous supports can be a turning point in a survivor's journey towards healing and living free from violence. Your continued leadership in the passage of this bill is an action of service that responds to those needs in trauma informed and culturally responsive ways.
Thank you again for your leadership on behalf of survivors, their families, and their communities around the country. Sincerely, Ami Novoryta,
Chief Program Officer, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
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Mrs. McBATH. Since coming to Congress, I have focused on protecting the children and families of Georgia and everyone all across this Nation, along with children and families throughout this great Nation that we all serve here today.
Working in close partnership with local, State, and Tribal leadership, this bipartisan legislation would reauthorize and expand funding for programs focused on preventing family and domestic violence, while also protecting its survivors.
I am so proud of this legislation and I am hopeful that it is one that we can all support. We must come together to support this law, recognizing that family and domestic violence can affect all Americans, no matter where they come from. Domestic violence and family violence is not a partisan issue.
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Mrs. McBATH. Madam Speaker, domestic violence is not a partisan issue. Family violence is not a partisan issue; it is a public health crisis.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues everywhere, Republicans and Democrats, to support the Family Violence Prevention and Services Improvement Act by voting ``yes'' on H.R. 2119.
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