Community
Domestic Violence in Louisiana Annual census results released
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Submitted by Lisa Lovello
An annual survey conducted by the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) provides insight into domestic violence services in the United States. On September 15, 2011 – one 24-hour period – domestic violence victim advocates in Louisiana served 948 victims and answered 314 emergency hotline calls. Nationally, advocates served more than 67,000 victims and answered more than 22,000 emergency hotline calls.
“The number one focus of domestic violence programs is always serving the survivors,” says Beth Meeks, executive director of LCADV. “These annual NNEDV census days are important so we know what services our programs are providing domestic violence victims and survivors in our state.” Meeks also notes programs are consistently reporting significant numbers of needs unmet, overwhelmingly due to lack of funding.
The census revealed 51 people were unable to receive emergency shelter or transitional housing, which accounted for 75% of all unmet service requests. This is directly related to funding, number of beds and transportation needs. Nationally, service providers did not meet 10,581 requests for assistance.
The census is an unduplicated count of adults and children seeking domestic violence services in the U.S., documenting the number of individuals who sought services, the types of services requested, the number of service requests that went unmet because of lack of resources, and the
issues and barriers that domestic violence programs are facing as they strive to provide services to victims of domestic violence.
The full National Domestic Violence Counts 2011 report is available online at http://www.nnedv.org/census. For more information, visit the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence at http://www.lcadv.org.
The Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence is the federally designated statewide coalition of shelters, non-residential programs and individuals working to end domestic violence in Louisiana. Our programs serve people from everywhere in Louisiana and who come from all backgrounds. LCADV opposes violence as a means of control over others and supports equality in relationships.
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