The Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services (OFVPS) leads Administration for Children and Families' comprehensive approach to domestic violence prevention and administers the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) to improve support for families and individuals experiencing violence and trauma. Each October, OFVPS recognizes Domestic Violence Awareness Month by standing in solidarity with survivors, their loved ones, advocates, and communities to mourn those whose lives have been lost to domestic violence; to celebrate the accomplishments to end and prevent further violence; and to connect with others leading this movement to transform communities to be more inclusive and supportive of all individuals and families fleeing violence. FVPSA grant recipients hosted engaging events throughout October 2024.

Please note that the OFVPS 2024 DVAM Calendar of Events includes recordings of the events and presentations.

The Children’s Bureau released an Information Memorandum to increase awareness of the prevalence and impact of domestic violence on children, youth, and families. This resource highlights effective strategies to support families impacted by domestic violence and encourages titles IV-E and IV-B agencies to enhance partnerships with Family Violence Prevention and Services Act grant recipients, State Domestic Violence Coalitions, tribal programs, culturally specific domestic violence programs, community-based organizations focused on supporting families impacted by domestic violence, and other critical service providers to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families impacted by domestic violence.

The National Association of Counties will host a webinar on November 12, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. ET to discuss the latest guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) services for youth detained in public institutions. Effective January 1, 2025, changes that stem from the Consolidated Appropriations Act (2023) will require states to amend their Medicaid and CHIP plans to provide essential medical, dental and case management services for eligible youth, before and after release. Presenters will discuss how these changes will impact county jails and how counties can collaborate with state health officials to ensure compliance and secure federal support.

In recent years, local, state, and federal child support offices started reexamining how their enforcement and collection roles can be paired with services that foster meaningful parental engagement and invest in the social and economic well-being of parents paying child support. In examining child support services, it is important to understand the reach they have throughout federal benefits. Across the continuum of human services programs, rules related to child support can impact whether someone qualifies for benefits, what amount they can receive, or the amount of child support they owe – including but not limited to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, childcare, and child welfare. Often, federal and state policies’ options regarding child support practices are made by individual programs in distinct silos from each other. This American Public Human Services Association resource discusses strategies that can help create the enabling conditions for continued progress in re-centering state and local child support collaborations with other human services program areas.

Access to unemployment insurance (UI) benefits has been a challenge for all workers, but especially workers of color, workers with less formal education, lower-paid workers, younger workers, and workers with disabilities, who have all been less likely to apply for and receive benefits, even when potentially eligible. Building on community-based organizations’ role in connecting workers with UI benefits, the U.S. Department of Labor launched a three-year pilot “navigator” program in 2022. The program, funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, aimed to help state UI agencies develop community partnerships. This Center for American Progress report provides an evaluation of one of the navigator programs, Maine’s Peer Workforce Navigator (PWN) program. The PWN program received state funding supplemented by federal navigator grants for unions and other community organizations to help unemployed workers access public unemployment insurance benefits and job training benefits.

This Office of Research, Planning and Evaluation resource shares three strategies, identified from the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency-Next Generation project report published earlier this year, to help program staff understand client needs better and improve client engagement. The resource uses examples from the report that details the approach that Monroe County in New York took to improve attendance at activities required by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

The University of California, Davis is hosting a webinar on November 19, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. PT, focusing on the integration of tribal engagement within California’s Child and Family Team (CFT) practice. This webinar will explore best practices outlined in the 2024 CFT Tribal Engagement Guide, which highlights the essential role of culturally responsive, trauma-informed practices for Indian children, families and Tribes. Participants will learn about the legal requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act in the CFT process, strategies for fostering collaboration between child welfare services and tribal governments, and methods for supporting cultural connections for children and families.

Nearly every aspect of modern life relies on the ability to receive funds, make payments, and access monetary resources when needed. But appropriate and affordable financial services are often not available to low-income and otherwise marginalized communities and individuals. The Institute for Research on Poverty is hosting a webinar on October 30, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. ET, where presenters will share research findings related to the inequitable landscape of financial services as well as examples of practice and policy solutions.

On October 10, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced the approval of up to $10 million in initial emergency grant funding to North Carolina to support disaster-relief jobs and training services in 25 counties to help respond to Hurricane Helene. This DOL release explains how the National Dislocated Worker Grant – supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 – will allow the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Workforce Solutions to provide people with temporary disaster-relief jobs for cleanup and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to address immediate, basic needs for those displaced by Hurricane Helene.

Supporting families and individuals means understanding that their needs are complex, interrelated, and affected by the opportunities available in their communities. Integrated service approaches to prevent homelessness or involvement in systems like child welfare may be best positioned to succeed when they recognize these holistic needs and identities and when they coordinate access to resources and services. This Mathematica brief highlights the efforts made by programs to coordinate services and supports for participants by focusing on their holistic needs, including how programs identified their participants’ strengths and needs and how the sites integrated services to be responsive to those needs. The findings are based on interviews with staff and partners from nine case studies sites across the country and with people who have been served by these programs.