Women seeking assistance from welfare programs rarely are effectively screened for domestic violence, although federal guidelines require the screening and most states have agreed to do it. Research has found that slightly more than one percent of women received effective screening that resulted in them revealing that they were victims of violence.

Researchers from the University of Washington analyzed 782 transcripts of interviews between women in four states and welfare case workers and found the screening for domestic abuse woefully weak.

They found that only nine percent of women applying for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families were screened for domestic violence. In other welfare offices in New York, Texas, Michigan and Georgia they found only 73 out of 782 cases in which there was any screening for domestic violence.

An Institutional Problem

"This is not about bad case workers. This lack of screening is an institutional problem that existed across states, across different welfare offices and different workers," said lead author Taryn Lindhorst in a news release. "Policy makers have placed the focus in assistance programs on getting women into the workforce and off of welfare rolls.

"Unfortunately, even in situations of great potential harm to women and their children, welfare offices do not effectively identify these women or help them access needed resources in the agency and community.

"For poor women, the welfare office is a place that could contribute to their safety and that of their children, but the offices largely don't provide help, despite a legislative mandate to screen and provide services for victims of domestic violence," she said.

"Other research with battered women indicated that they want to be asked about domestic violence, provided that their information is kept confidential and the person asking is motivated by a genuine desire to help," Lindhorst said. "The bottom line is we can't help women until we know that they are in these dangerous circumstances. We know there are many women who could be identified and have services offered if welfare offices conducted more and more effective screening."

Lindhorst said inquiries during the interviews by caseworkers were mostly cursory, at best. Clients were typically asked about domestic violence once as part of a laundry list of routine questions.

More Effective Screening Needed

Lindhorst suggests more effective ways to help women disclose violence and get help, including:

• Assuring confidentiality.
  
• Establishing rapport with clients.
  
• Telling clients what is going to happen to them. Many have concerns such as losing their children.
  
• Describing how clients telling about violence will help them.
  
• Asking directly about abuse.
  
• Providing the client multiple opportunities to disclose abuse.

"Welfare workers need to see screening for domestic violence as part of their responsibility," Lindhorst said. "To do that they need training and they need to be rewarded for helping clients, even if this means that they remain on the welfare rolls. Right now, they are only being held responsible for how many people they remove from their caseloads, not how many they assist."

Related Information:

• Domestic Abuse Screening Quiz
  
• Mate's Behavior Can Signal Domestic Violence
  
• Study Reveals Domestic 'Predictors of Death'
  
• One Family's Story

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