Budget cuts have abuse shelters in peril

Rhonda Dean, the executive director of CAASA, the Centers Against Abuse and Sexual Assault, would at least like to minimize the windshield time.

CAASA serves eight northwest Iowa counties, with its main office in Spencer. Agency directors around Iowa, including Dean, are concerned about their agency's place, or lack of a place, in a shrinking state budget.

The advocates received help Wednesday from Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who used a Capitol press conference to lobby for funding on behalf of domestic and sexual abuse assistance programs.

"We are asking the Legislature to directly provide $4 million for 31 programs around the state that come to the aid of victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault, so we don't have to deplete compensation funds used to aid individual crime victims," Miller said.

Local sexual assault and domestic violence programs rely on a combination of state, federal, and private funds to maintain operations, according to Miller and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

State support for these programs has existed since 1979, but a number of changes and tight state budget years have dramatically eroded their funding, according to the state coalition. In 2002, the state budget line item to support their programs was eliminated and nine programs were forced to close or merge.

Money from the Iowa Attorney General's Victim Compensation Fund was redirected as a temporary "fix" to allow the remaining programs to keep doors open.

This fund has now been severely depleted and can no longer provide funds for these crucial victim assistance programs, according to a statement from the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence

"We're not asking for an increase in money, we're asking for the $4 million that will keep services the way they are," Dean said.

For the moment, CAASA has shelters in Spirit Lake, Spencer and Cherokee, and each location also serves as an outreach office. Other outreach offices are located in Estherville and Storm Lake.

Clay County and Dickinson County are staffed with a full-time adult advocate. Emmet County and Palo Alto County share one advocate. Buena Vista County and Sac County also are served by one advocate. A third multi-county CAASA advocate covers Cherokee and Ida.

"This last year, we cut two full-time positions and one part-time advocate position. So just to maintain services the way they are today, on Jan. 7, we'll need that $4 million," Dean said. "If we don't get that, some really tough decisions are going to have to be made. We're going to have to maybe close doors on our outreach offices."

The larger territory means victims might have to cross two county lines to get services that they need, "and they won't do that," Dean said.

"If we don't have a shelter, there is no safe place for an individual to go for safety," Dean said. "There is no place for them to go for victim crisis counseling. If they need therapy, that's great because we have those mental health services, but if you call for an appointment, it's six weeks out. You need that initial crisis reaction to what's happing in that family system."

In 2007, CAASA served 829 new clients. The agency sheltered 55 adults 74 children for a total of 1,061 nights. A majority of those shelter nights were spent in Clay County.

In the first six months of 2008, the agency has seen an increase in shelter nights. They saw 336 new clients in the first six months of 2008 with 34 adults and 37 children spending a combined 719 nights in shelter over six months.

CAASA also received 453 crisis line calls in 2007.

"I just am worried," Dean said. "It's not about job security for us that do this work. We do this work for the passion that we bring to the job. But it's about safety for victims. We're going to see women and children dying if they cannot access the services they need."