love is respect hosts Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM) annually as an effort to focus on advocacy and education to stop dating abuse before it starts. The theme, “Love Like That,” illuminates what ‘that’ means regarding healthy and unhealthy relationships. This webpage offers the 2024 TDVAM materials, including an action guide, a calendar of events, and a social media guide.

The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center is hosting a re-watch of a webinar hosted originally in 2023, on February 21, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. ET. In this live re-watch, participants will hear a discussion on how youth advocates can address teen dating violence in Tribal communities. The webinar will include available tools and resources for Native youth; defining violent versus healthy relationships, and empowering the next generation through Indigenous values.

The targeting and scale of missing Indigenous relatives is deeply concerning and rooted in historical injustices, marginalization, and socio-economic disparities. The connection between exploitation and the displacement of Indigenous communities underscores the importance of addressing the root causes of vulnerability. This involves enhancing collaboration between Indigenous leaders, law enforcement, and policy makers to develop effective strategies for prevention, intervention, and support for victims and their families as described in the findings of the Not Invisible Act Commission. This blogpost from the Administration for Native Americans (ANA) and the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) provides resources for tribal leaders, Indigenous-led organizations, and state and federal partners committed to searching for missing relatives and loved ones. The resources include a podcast series on Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, a paper on culturally based prevention strategies, online trainings on strengthening screening and trauma-informed responses to human trafficking – and more.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau protects the interests of working women, advocates for their equality and economic security, and promotes quality work environments. In recognition of National Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, the Women’s Bureau is hosting a virtual conversation on October 17, 2023, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET about domestic violence (DV) awareness and how it relates to the principles of gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH). Participants will learn innovative ways employers can approach their response to DV and GVBH in the workplace.

The Domestic Violence (DV) and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) webpage on the PeerTA website identifies information and resources that are targeted to supporting survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence. This webpage includes:

• A statement of the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Commitment to Supporting Families Struggling with DV/IPV.
• Information on the importance of Training Partnerships, which are critical to helping human services staff provide support to victims of sexual harassment or survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking and to their children when accessing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs.
• Resources Available for TANF agency staff to help them make every effort to assist families and children who are experiencing sexual harassment, domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking, including:
  • OFA-sponsored technical assistance;
  • Contact information for Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA) state and territory administrators and coalitions;
  • Links to FVPSA DV Training and Technical Assistance national and culturally specific resource centers; and
  • A listing of ACF Safe Access for Victims’ Economic Security (SAVES) demonstration grants designed to develop, evaluate, and implement best practices to provide safe access to child support and parenting time services.
• The Office of Family Violence and Prevention Services (OFVPS)’ contact information for inquiries related to FVPSA DV resources or resource centers, as well as directions for making TANF Policy Inquiries.

The child support program serves parents in the context of their community. Child support agencies work with community-based organizations to help meet parent needs,and enhance the success of families in child support programs. This compendium reflects the diversity of child support partnerships across the country; it includes resources and fact sheets on employment, reentry, family violence, responsible fatherhood, homelessness, parental education, and preventing the need for child support services by addressing the importance of being emotionally and financially prepared to support a child.

In support of the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) mission and strategic plan, ACF has developed a set of materials intended to provide guidance to hard-to-reach populations to increase their awareness and understanding of the array of resources that may be able to assist them. These resources are explicitly designed to be user-friendly and easy to digest. The materials include resources for transition-age youth exiting foster care, families with children ages 0-12, prospective Head Start participants, survivors of domestic violence looking to find and keep housing, fathers looking for benefits programs or parenting tips, and providers supporting those seeking post-disaster housing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey estimates that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes. Survivors of gender-based violence often face multiple barriers to employment, including limited skills, gaps in their education and work histories, housing instability, and mental health and substance use needs. Urban Institute conducted an evaluation of the Career Readiness Training Program, Sanctuary for Families’ workforce development program in New York City designed specifically for domestic violence survivors. This Urban Institute report explores the findings of the evaluation – for example, after completing the program, clients were more successful in overcoming critical barriers to employment such as low self-esteem, gaining employment, and improving financial self-sufficiency.

This research study illustrates how intimate partner violence against women is a global public health problem with many short-term and long-term effects on the physical and mental health of women and their children. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for its elimination in target 5.2. To monitor governments' progress towards SDG target 5.2, this study aimed to provide global, regional, and country baseline estimates of physical or sexual (or both) violence against women by male intimate partners. Included studies were conducted between 2000 and 2018, representative at the national or sub-national level and included women aged 15 years or older, and used act-based measures of physical or sexual (or both) intimate partner violence. The findings indicated that globally, 27% of ever-partnered women aged 15–49 years are estimated to have experienced physical or sexual (or both) intimate partner violence in their lifetime. Also, 13% experienced it in the previous year before they were surveyed. This violence starts early, affecting adolescent girls and young women, with 24% of women aged 15–19 years and 26% of women aged 19–24 years having already experienced intimate partner violence at least once since the age of 15.

Families experiencing poverty and economic pressure have increased risk for child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and acts of violence by youth. This article highlights several programs that reduce rates of family and child poverty, including TANF, but it notes how TANF policies in particular have the greatest economic security policy discrepancies across states despite research that shows policies that increase access to money protect against family and youth violence. The article discusses research that indicates work requirements in TANF and other evidence-based interventions may protect against violence by increasing individual and family resources. However, one-size-fits-all work requirements may have unanticipated negative effects, such as an increase in sanctions that contribute to unemployment or under-employment when an individual cannot meet set requirements or leaving single mothers with less time to care for their children, which may increase the risk of child maltreatment.