These stringent federal work requirements have led to — or intensified — a "work first" philosophy at the state level. TANF workers emphasize job search and work activities. Research to determine how families are faring under the "work first" approach found that 71% who left welfare for employment earned less than $250 per week - which is less than the poverty level for a family of three. Notably, in Wisconsin, almost 2 out of 3 former recipients had lower incomes after they left the welfare rolls.

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 is also important to the discussion of welfare-to-work initiatives. WIA will replace the current Promise Jobs and JTPA (Job Training Partnership Act) programs. Each state will develop a Workforce Investment System that includes a state workforce investment board with local workforce investment areas. This will change the way services are provided.

The welfare-to-work federal grant program, housed in the U.S. Department of Labor, was authorized by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which provided $3 billion to fund programs to move long-term welfare recipients into jobs. Using these grants, communities are encouraged to design welfare-to-work strategies suitable to the needs of local people and with the local labor market in mind.

Options/Opciones (Chicago, IL)

The Taylor Institute, a policy research center focusing on issues related to poverty, developed a pilot welfare-to-work project for domestic violence survivors that is operating in one inner-city Chicago neighborhood. Options/Opciones is a collaboration among the Taylor Institute, two domestic violence programs, and the local welfare office - the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS). The project uses a case management model of service delivery where many of the services needed by and provided to the women are available throughout the community. It was designed to serve a large number of women without overburdening the domestic violence service providers.

Options/Opciones advocates are located in the local IDHS office. Women are referred into the program by IDHS intake staff and case managers. The Options/Opciones advocates also present information about the program to small groups of women waiting to visit with an IDHS caseworker for the first time. Women interested in receiving the services of the project meet individually with an advocate to complete forms which guide the intervention process. These forms are Intake/Eligibility; Employment Intake; Health Care Intake; Legal Intake; and an Abuser Profile. Options/Opciones also offers pre-employment services for women enrolled in the project. The pre-employment services consist of an ongoing group using a curriculum with five areas of concentration, which are 1) identifying the impact of abuse on your life, 2) exploring your capabilities, 3) increasing your self-esteem, 4) assessing your readiness for work or training programs, and 5) setting your goals. Contact Rebekah Levin at the Taylor Institute for more information about this program, 773-342-0630.

Women's Association for Women's Alternatives, Inc.
(Philadelphia, PA)

Women's Association for Women's Alternatives, Inc. (WAWA), serves low-income women with children in three residential programs in Pennsylvania. The Women's Alternative Center is a transitional housing program for battered women and their children. Services provided for women in this program include case management; counseling; vocational/educational guidance; life-skills education; parenting support; on-site adult education; employment training/referral; childcare and children's programming; and assistance in obtaining permanent housing.

WAWA also operates a job training program in two counties in Pennsylvania called "Options for Independence." "Options for Independence" is an 8-month Job-Specific Skills Training and Placement program. Routine services provided to women include domestic violence counseling. Women who are receiving welfare benefits are referred into the program through the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation (formerly called the Private Industry Council) if they have serious barriers to employment, and in many cases this is due to domestic violence. For more information contact Carol Goertzel at Women's Association for Women's Alternatives, Inc., at 610-543-5022.

Sectoral Employment Strategies

Sectoral employment strategies target specific areas of a local labor market on which to focus job placement and training efforts. One type of sectoral strategy is to focus on increasing access to "good jobs" within targeted occupations that are traditionally not open to low-income people. "Good jobs" are occupations that pay higher wages, offer heath and other benefits, and provide career ladders. A second sectoral strategy is to target low-paying job industries typically open to low-income families and create systemic change within that labor market to increase wages and benefits. Under both approaches, the job training/placement program establishes links with employers and develops training programs to build skills for specific jobs, or links potential employees with appropriate educational programs.

Careers in Health Care (Pine Bluff, AR)

The C.S. Mott Foundation is funding a national demonstration of sectoral employment strategies to improve labor markets. One of the ten programs funded is "Careers in Health Care" of the Good Faith Fund in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Through this program, welfare recipients and other low-income individuals receive training to become certified nursing assistants. Project staff network with employers who offer good wages and benefits. "Careers in Health Care" also emphasizes career growth; 10% of program graduates have enrolled in nursing programs. Two of the graduates have gone on to receive their LPN degree. Contact Theresa Horton at the Good Faith Fund at 870-535-6233 for more information. Visit the Good Faith Fund's web site - - http://www.arenterprise.org - - for a more complete description of the "Careers in Health Care" program and other activities of the organization.

New Choices for Women (Atlanta, GA)

Training women to work in nontraditional occupations is one example of targeting a high wage labor market. As classified by the U.S. Department of Labor, a non-traditional occupation for women is a job in which 25% or less of the workforce is female. Examples of such occupations are electrician, carpenter, computer repairer, truck driver, architect, and firefighter.

Goodwill Industries in Atlanta, Georgia, operates a pre-apprenticeship program called New Choices for Women. Participants complete an 11-week employment training course in highway construction. Upon completion, participants are eligible to apprentice into a job. The Atlanta Tradeswomen Network is also affiliated with Goodwill Industries and New Choices for Women. The network began as a support group for women working in non-traditional employment and evolved into a funded program to provide employment information and advocacy against gender and racial harassment at the workplace.

Wider Opportunities for Women

Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) provides technical assistance to community organizations and industries to increase nontraditional employment opportunities for women. One service it offers is Workplace Solutions, a computer-based technical assistance network and service funded by the U.S. Department of Labor through the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupation Act (WANTO). It is a resource for employers and unions who wish to increase the access of women and minorities to apprenticeships and nontraditional employment, enhance their success and job retention, and prevent sexual harassment on the job. Visit its Internet site ‚ http://www.workplacesolutions.org.

WOW's "Work4Women" project provides technical assistance for the job training, vocational education, welfare, and school-to work systems on improving women’s access to nontraditional occupations. For more information about this project, visit WOW's web site —http://www.w-o-w.org - and click on "national programs," or call 202-638-3143.

Microenterprise/Self-Employment Development

A microenterprise is a small business that employs five or fewer people and can be started with capital of $25,000 or less. Microenterprise development is an anti-poverty strategy that provides specialized services and training to low-income people interested in entrepreneurship. Microenterprise development programs are typically operated by not-for-profit agencies that provide training and technical assistance, credit or access to credit, and market access. There are over 500 microenterprise support programs around the country.

As an anti-poverty strategy, microenterprise development can increase personal income and assets, reduce welfare dependence, and create additional jobs for low-income individuals.

In Assisting Low-Income Women Entrepreneurs: Lessons from the programs of the Ms. Foundation for Women, the Foundation outlines common characteristics of successful microenterprise development programs. Programs designed with the needs of low-income women in mind share some of the following components:

• Training is participatory and tailored to participants' capacities and life situations;
• Support and networking mechanisms are established (e.g., lending circles, business directories, and mentoring);
• The program reflects an understanding of women's lives and responsibilities;
• Ongoing training and technical assistance are provided;
• A range of credit options is offered;
• The program assists in gaining access to business markets;
• Asset development is included in the program; and
• The program fosters linkages with community organizations, banks, businesses, and others important to participant success.

Elizabeth Stone House (Boston, MA)

Elizabeth Stone House is a women's alternative mental health program in Boston, Massachusetts, that provides a wide array of services to battered women, including emergency shelter, transitional housing, and an economic development program called Community Education for Economic Development (CEED). CEED is a comprehensive model designed to promote economic self-determination for battered women and their children in the Boston area through three program components — personal economic planning, the economic opportunity network, and the women’s business opportunity program.

The Women's Business Opportunity Program (WBOP) is a microenterprise support program for women who have completed an economic literacy course (highlighted in the next section) and are interested in entrepreneurship. It is a comprehensive program, including 24 weeks of training and consultation which facilitates the establishment of new businesses. Women interested in starting a small business participate in a 14-week pre-business course that assists them in developing a business idea, completing a feasibility study, and preparing a business plan. The services WBOP provides are affordable, and are located in a neighborhood where low-income people live, and the program has a strong focus on pre-business development. Graduates of WBOP have opened a variety of businesses, including catering, translation and interpreting services, hair and nail salon, fashion design and tailoring.

WBOP also coordinates the Women Mean Business Network, a group of graduates and business owners that provides support to each other through a monthly newsletter and regular get-togethers. Ongoing technical assistance and support are provided to program participants through the network.

Business Ventures by Not-for-Profits

A business venture by a not-for-profit organization involves creating a for-profit subsidiary of a not-for-profit organization.

A not-for-profit agency interested in this strategy should carefully consider its capacity and objectives for starting a business. The most common reasons a not-for-profit decides to develop a for-profit business are to 1) create jobs; 2) create job training opportunities; and 3) generate income for its social service program. It can be difficult for a social service program to juggle these various purposes while trying to meet the needs of the women it serves. Service-oriented programs may also find it difficult to operate within a business framework.

SAFE (Welch, WV)

A domestic violence program in rural West Virginia — Stop Abusive Family Environments, Inc. (SAFE) — started a for-profit business in 1999. In a community with high (10%) unemployment, SAFE decided to develop a for-profit subsidiary business to provide job-training and employment opportunities for residents of its transitional housing facility. The program received a $10,000 economic development grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. With this grant, SAFE hired consultants from Marshall University and Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College to complete a community needs assessment and develop a business plan for a temporary employment services company. As a for-profit subsidiary of SAFE, this temporary services company is a response to community employer/business need for staff, and simultaneously creates jobs for residents of SAFE’s transitional housing facility. Call Sharon Yates, Executive Director of SAFE, for more information about this project, 304-436-8117, P.O. Box 234, Welch, West Virginia 24801.

Workplace Policies for Battered Women

Maintaining employment is an important element in battered women's economic security. Research has documented the detrimental effects that domestic violence has on battered women's employment status. Absenteeism, arriving late because of a partner's abusive behavior, or harassment by the batterer at work, can result in the loss of employment.

It is essential to ensure that battered women don't lose their jobs. The loss of this income will be critical to a woman's ability to make choices about her safety. Domestic violence advocates can work with employers and unions to draw them into efforts to respond to domestic violence. This is important to increase the likelihood that battered women will be able to keep their jobs even through stressful periods of time (like attending court proceedings). These collaborations can also build community support for domestic violence organizations.

National Workplace Resource Center on Domestic Violence, Family Violence Prevention Fund (San Francisco, CA)

The National Workplace Resource Center on Domestic Violence is a collaboration among the Family Violence Prevention Fund, corporations, and unions to develop comprehensive domestic violence policies and programs for the workplace.

The resource center has materials that provide guidance to companies, governmental employers, and unions interested in developing appropriate responses to domestic violence, including benefits packages which include leave policies enabling women to go to court, and employee assistance programs which provide counseling and referrals.

One such resource is the "Workplace Policy Checklist," which suggests that employers assess their workplace by asking the following questions:

• Does the Employee Assistance Program offer counseling services, and are the counselors trained to provide counseling or referrals for domestic violence?
• Do managers know how to recognize the signs of domestic violence in their staff, and do they know about workplace policies?
• Does the workplace foster an environment where it feels safe to talk about domestic violence (i.e. through employee education, newsletter articles, posters, and brochures on domestic violence).

Contact the National Workplace Resource Center on Domestic Violence at 415-252-8900, or visit the Internet web page for the Family Violence Prevention Fund - http://www.fvpf.org - and click on "At Work."

Domestic Violence Intervention Program (Iowa City, Iowa)

The Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP) in Iowa City, Iowa — a community-based battered women's advocacy and shelter program — purchased a curriculum from Intermedia, Inc. called "When Domestic Violence Comes to Work," with permission to revise it for local needs.

The curriculum consists of possible 2 -, 4-, or 8-hour training options for both employers and employees concerned for the safety of coworkers and committed to fostering a safe work environment. The curriculum presents information about how to approach domestic violence in the workplace, support victims, and access resources within the community. DVIP is currently testing the curriculum with businesses that have given donations to the program. Contact Kristie Doser at 319-351-1042 for more information.

Battered Women Employed (San Francisco, CA)

The Legal Aid Society of San Francisco, in partnership with the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, operates Battered Women Employed (BWE) out of its Employment Law Center. The purpose of BWE is to advocate for the employment rights of battered women as a strategy for responding to the violence in their lives. BWE provides free legal advice, information, and counseling to battered women; increases awareness through public education programs; and trains service providers, advocates, attorneys, and union representatives regarding the employment rights of battered women.

BWE has also developed a number of Fact Sheets regarding the employment rights of battered women, including the following:

• Safety Planning in the Workplace: Protecting Yourself and Your Job,
• Domestic Violence Victims' Right to Take Time from Work to Participate in Criminal Proceedings, and
• Employment Discrimination against Domestic Violence Victims.

Contact Robin Runge, of the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco, at 415-864-8848, or Marcellene Hearn or Julie Goldscheid, of NOW LDEF at 212-925-6635, to learn more about the project and resources available.

IV. Creating Assets

Assets are "anything owned that has exchange value; a valuable or desirable thing to have." Assets are characteristics an individual possesses that are valuable — such as a higher education or special skills — and objects an individual possesses — such as a car, house, small business, savings account. Michael Sherraden, a social work professor at the Center for Social Development, was one of the first proponents of asset-based social welfare policy. He concluded that while current social welfare policy kept the poor afloat, it offered no strategies to increase economic status through building assets and savings for such things as homeownership, education, and small business investment. Sherraden wrote, "Few people have ever spent their way out of poverty. Those who escape do so through saving and investing for long-term goals."

This section highlights strategies that build a woman's assets, both individual and financial, with a goal of increasing her ability to maintain economic independence and self-sufficiency.

Economic Literacy

Economic literacy, which is also referred to as economic education, is a strategy that educates women about economics and finances. Its purpose is to increase an individual's knowledge about economic systems, financial planning, and budgeting, and is regarded as a first step in working towards individual economic security.

Elizabeth Stone House (Boston, MA)

Personal Economic Planning (PEP) is the first component of Elizabeth Stone House's Community Education for Economic Development (CEED) program. PEP encourages women's understanding of larger economic systems, analyzes the roots of their poverty, and defines their path toward economic self-determination.

Personal Economic Planning (PEP) is an 8-hour economic literacy and goal-planning curriculum that

• Focuses on improving low self-esteem,
• Provides an analysis of poverty that considers experiences of domestic violence,
• Increases knowledge of economic systems,
• Enhances financial management skills, and
• Uses a strength-based goal-setting technique to implement personal action steps.

Through PEP, women define and implement their personal economic plan. Women who complete the program receive support for one year from Stone House staff to assist in achieving the goals set out in the plan. Based on their plan, women are referred to education and employment opportunities and other components of the CEED program.

Stone House can provide information about all aspects of their economic development program. Call April King at 617-427-9801, ext. 414. Laurie Holmes can provide training and technical assistance to programs interested in implementing a PEP program. She can be reached at Harbor COVE in Chelsea, MA, 617-884-9799.

Access to Higher Education

The U.S. Bureau of the Census has documented an increase in income inequality between wealthy and low-income households over the last 30 years. This increase is attributed both to the changes in the labor market (from manufacturing to service-oriented occupations), and, to a lesser extent, to the changes in household composition (i.e., from two-parent to one-parent families). Wage distribution has become more unequal, with workers "at the top" experiencing substantial wage gains and those "at the bottom," wage losses.

Women with more education have the potential for making a higher wage. Based on 1993 data, the Bureau of the Census reports that women without a high school degree made an average of $14,700/year; women with a high school degree earned an average of $19,168 per year; and women with a bachelor's degree earned on average $32,291/year.

The current federal welfare assistance program — Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) — has placed a strong emphasis on work activities, and includes policies that discourage state investment in education for those needing assistance. Many advocates for low-income women are concerned that the current welfare system will channel women into low-wage work without opportunities for career advancement and increasing wages.

Parents As Scholars (Maine)

The Parents as Scholars (PaS) program was created by the Maine Legislature as part of its state welfare reform plan. It is run by the Maine Department of Human Services and is available for parents who are eligible for TANF and are interested in attending a two- or four-year college. TANF recipients who are interested in going to college are transferred into the PaS program. PaS is a state-funded program; thus, PaS participant time spent in school does not count against the 5-year "lifetime limit" regulation of the federal TANF program.

PaS program recipients receive the same monthly cash assistance they would have received under Maine's TANF program. In addition, supportive services are available as well, including child care, transportation, car repairs, auto liability insurance, eye care, dental care, books and supplies, clothing, and uniforms. PaS participants must apply for financial aid to cover tuition and mandatory fees of the educational institution. However, the program will pay tuition and fees up to $3,500 per academic year if the participant is not able to get financial aid.

The Maine Equal Justice Project was instrumental in getting the PaS program passed in the Maine legislature. For more information about the PaS program, visit their Internet site — http://www.mejp.org, or call 207-626-7058.

Individual Development Accounts

Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are matched savings accounts designed to help low-income and low-wealth families accumulate a few thousand dollars to be used for investments in education or job training, homeownership, and/or self-employment. Low-income individuals save monthly, usually over a one- to four-year period, and have their savings matched by funders.

Financial institutions, foundations, churches, and state and local governments fund the matches to the personal savings of IDA holders (usually at a rate ranging from one dollar for each dollar saved to four dollars for each dollar saved). Community agencies (usually 501 (c)(3) non-profit organizations) counsel and monitor participants, provide money management and financial literacy training, control match funds, and authorize participants’ withdrawals.

A small provision in the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (federal welfare reform) allows a state to use part of its block grant welfare money to fund individual development accounts; currently 25 states have included IDAs in their welfare reform plans.

The federal Assets for Independence Act (AFIA) — passed as part of the 1999 Omnibus Budget Bill — created the Assets for Independence Demonstration Program. This competitive grant program is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Community Services. Federal legislation authorized a 4-year, $25-million-per-year IDA demonstration program.

For information about FY 2001 grant applications, visit the website http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/ocs and go to "funding opportunities."

The Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis operates an IDA state profile project. It is a resource for IDA programs and others seeking information about IDAs. On its web site, it maintains information on state IDA legislation and programs.

Central Vermont Community Action Council

The Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC) provides Head Start preschool classes, programs for homeless individuals, job training, microenterprise development, and youth enterprise development. CVCAC is now also operating an IDA program called Tangible Assets. CVCAC developed partnerships with a credit union and two banks to provide no-cost banking, counseling, and services to IDA participants. Participants in the Tangible Assets program must save at least $25 a month, attend a 16-hour financial literacy workshop series, commit to the program for at least one year, and attend a peer support group. Tangible Assets is part of the Corporation for Enterprise Development's "Downpayments on the American Dream Policy Demonstration." For more information on Tangible Assets call Linda Macris, 802-479-1053.

Battered Women's Economic Development Task Force
(St. Louis, MO)

The Battered Women's Economic Development Task Force in St. Louis, Missouri, is actively working on asset development for battered women. Its asset development subcommittee believes that increasing a battered woman's long-term economic security is one strategy in responding to domestic violence. Tasks identified by the asset development committee include collaborating with financial institutions and other community development organizations, educating domestic violence advocates about IDAs and public policy issues, and building a resource pool within the Battered Women's Economic Development Task Force that could provide financial support to battered women in the form of IDA matching or microenterprise loan funds. For more information, contact AliSha Pemberton at 314-664-6022 or Trish Bonica at 703-351-0795.

SafeSpace (Sevierville, TN)

SafeSpace is a domestic violence program in rural Tennessee that is part of a newly formed network of IDA programs across that state. This network works collaboratively with the state Department of Human Services to implement IDAs with welfare recipients. SafeSpace is receiving technical assistance from the Tennessee Network for Community Economic Development. Funds to implement its joint IDA/microenterprise development project have come from the Board of Global Ministries and the Levi Foundation. The need to develop this project came from staff observations that women without economic assets often have no other choice but to return to an abusive relationship. The project is in its initial stage of development. Contact Dianne Levy at 423-453-9254 for more information.

V. Governmental Responses

Local, state, and federal government programs provide a range of benefits and subsidies to assist a variety of individuals, including those who are poor, disabled, elderly, and/or unemployed. These benefits include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), unemployment compensation, housing subsidies, food stamps, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and Supplemental Security Income.

These benefits can provide essential support to those battered women who are unable to meet their own or their children's basic needs through employment.

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)

In 1996, sweeping changes to the federal welfare law replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Program with TANF. This new welfare law emphasized that TANF recipients should move from "welfare to work" as quickly as possible and that government assistance would be temporary, placing a five-year lifetime limit on cash assistance for many families. States were given unprecedented discretion to use TANF funding to develop their own assistance programs and rules.

Changes to housing and benefits programs provide both opportunities and barriers for battered women striving for safety and self-sufficiency. A numbers of papers have been written to help advocates and others understand the implications of these changes and to build responses that meet the needs of battered women. (See box this page.)

The 1996 welfare reform legislation included the "Family Violence Option" (FVO) as a vehicle for states to use to structure their response to domestic violence. States were given the opportunity to create provisions in their welfare plans to respond to the needs of victims of domestic violence with special programs and alternative services and to excuse them from the standard work or other requirements, as necessary. By 1999, 36 states had formally adopted the FVO, and six states had adopted state-specific domestic violence policies.

Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance

The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA, the welfare office administering state TANF funds), in collaboration with Jane Doe, Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, received a grant to form an interagency advisory committee on implementation of the family violence option. The advisory committee is comprised of local domestic violence advocates; Jane Doe, Inc. staff members, DTA and Department of Social Services (DSS) staff, and personnel from the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services and the state Department of Revenue Child Support Enforcement Division.

The advisory committee developed a curriculum and contracted with local domestic violence service programs to provide a one-day training on domestic violence for all welfare workers in the state. The group has been working to improve the process by which survivors can apply for waivers from DTA requirements such as the family cap, time limit, and work requirements.

The DTA and DSS also funded a project to cross-train domestic violence advocates, substance abuse counselors, employers, and job training providers on domestic violence, on its implications for women receiving welfare benefits, and on how groups might utilize Welfare-to-Work resources to implement economic development models that will support women.

The advisory committee also supported the addition of eight domestic violence specialists in DTA offices. Four work in the city of Boston, and four are in other areas of the state. Their responsibilities include assisting survivors in completing the application for waivers (family violence option), providing referrals to community agencies, and offering ongoing education, training, and technical assistance to welfare staff.

The advisory committee will continue to help the DTA implement strategies that better support the attempts of survivors of domestic violence to move safely to work.

Child Support Enforcement

Child support is money paid by a noncustodial parent (parent without physical custody) to support his/her children. Typically, child support is paid because of a court order. The amount of child support ordered is generally based on established guidelines that consider a variety of factors, including the noncustodial parent’s income. Child support can help provide the financial resources that a battered mother needs to support her child/ren.

The 1996 federal welfare reform law and other related changes attempted to streamline and automate the child support enforcement process and institute a more aggressive approach to establishing paternity and collecting child support. Recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF, welfare benefits) must actively cooperate with the state to enforce child support and establish paternity as a requirement of receiving benefits, unless they receive a good cause exception from these requirements.

Ensuring regular and adequate child support payments for every child takes on new meaning in the context of time-limited welfare benefits. Most single-parent families headed by women live very close to the poverty line, and for many of these families, regular receipt of child support often means they have the ability to cover basic family expenses. Mothers leaving welfare for low wage jobs will rely on child support payments to increase their income.

Given the importance of child support to children, it is essential that support be pursued whenever possible. However, some battered women may not want to establish paternity or pursue child support because of the dangers these pose to them or their children. Under the current system, both TANF and non-TANF battered mothers generally have two choices: 1) fully comply with efforts to enforce any support orders, and face any dangers this may bring; or 2) forego child support income by applying for a good cause exception to cooperation requirements (in TANF cases) or deciding not to apply, or to withdraw a request, for child support (in non-TANF cases). In order to meet the important goals of child support enforcement and to avoid "rewarding" batterers for their threats and violence, some states are beginning to explore a third option–safely enforcing child support. This means that a support enforcement strategy is developed with the battered mother that would reduce the danger to her and her child/ren.

Approaches to safely enforcing child support being explored by various states include 1) providing information to women at various stages in the child support process; 2) exempting domestic violence victims from child support cooperation requirements, focusing particularly on the area of "good cause" for non-cooperation under traditional child support standards and the Family Violence Option; 3) individualizing enforcement strategies; 4) increasing safety and confidentiality of information within the child support system; and 5) providing training. These strategies are described in more detail in the paper, Models for Safe Child Support Enforcement, by Vicki Turetsky and Suan Notar. The paper is available on the Internet at the Center for Law and Social Policy's web site — http://www.clasp.org, or by calling 202-328-5145.

VI. Conclusion

Domestic violence and poverty can create insurmountable barriers to safety for women and children. For some women, facing certain economic devastation is worse that remaining in an abusive relationship. Increasing options for economic security can be a critical strategy in responding to the violence women face.

The challenge for the battered women's movement is to respond to women's poverty. As the battered women's movement has grown, so have parallel movements for women's social and economic justice, illustrated by the strength and work of such organizations as Wider Opportunities for Women and the Ms. Foundation for Women. We must join with them and the countless other efforts taking place in cities and states around the country to increase economic options for all women.

This paper has presented basic information on opportunities and challenges to increase the economic well-being of battered women. Use it as a starting point to spark creativity in program planning, collaborations with others in the community and the development of more effective policy initiatives.