ATLANTA-Georgia is set to eliminate all state money for domestic violence programs, replacing it with federal funds that some advocates say will limit the services shelters for battered women can provide.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have raised questions about the proposal from Gov. Nathan Deal to use some $4.4 million in federal welfare money – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF – to fund domestic violence shelters, according to memos and e-mails obtained by The Associated Press through an open records request.
But the state is pressing forward with the plan anyway. It’s included in budget proposals that have passed both the House and the Senate. The chambers are working out differences in the spending plans before sending them to Deal’s desk for his signature.
“For the state not to invest a single dollar into what are clearly lifesaving services sends a strong signal that these services are not important,” said Nicole Lesser, executive director of the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Lesser said that funding the shelters exclusively with TANF dollars could jeopardize their ability to provide services to women without children under federal TANF eligibility rules. Childless women make up between 30 and 40 percent of women seeking domestic violence services in Georgia, Lesser said.