National Domestic Violence Hotline

What this funds

The National Domestic Violence Hotline (Hotline) was first authorized by the Child Abuse Amendments of 1984 (P.L. 98-457). The Hotline operates a free and confidential 24-hour national, toll-free telephone and digital (chat and text) hotline services to provide information and assistance to adult and youth survivors of family violence, domestic violence, or dating violence; their family and household members; and friends and others affected by the violence to pursue a path to safety and build healthy supportive communities free from domestic violence. The Hotline contact volume was 601,481 in FY 2025. The Hotline is authorized under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P L. 111-320), as part of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA). The Hotline serves as a critical 24/7 national service provider and partner in the intervention, prevention, and resource assistance efforts of a network of family violence, domestic violence, and dating violence service providers. It provides assistance in the following areas: (1) crisis intervention services, emotional support, and helping the contact identify the abuse and possible support and options for pursuing a path to safety, including making a safety plan for their current situation and in an emergency or escalation of violence; (2) education and information about resources on domestic violence and dating violence, children exposed to domestic violence, sexual assault, intervention programs for batterers, and working through the criminal and civil justice systems; and (3) nationwide referrals to domestic violence shelters and programs, social service agencies, programs addressing the needs of children exposed to domestic violence, legal assistance agencies, economic self-sufficiency programs, and other related services. The Hotline maintains a comprehensive resource database with access to 3,349 service providers and may be referred or directly connected. The Hotline is accessible to persons who are deaf or hard of The Hotline, through the Love is Respect Dating Abuse Helpline, provides specialized services to youth and young adults concerning dating violence and healthy relationships. These distinctive services offer real-time, one-on-one assistance from advocates who are trained to provide support, information, and advocacy to those involved in abusive dating relationships or wanting to learn how to prevent dating The Hotline provides a holistic approach to service delivery through a variety of access points that include a website, telephone (including text and live video), online chatting, and texting. In FY 2025, ACFC awarded a grant to the newly established National Indigenous Domestic Violence Hotline, to support Native American survivors of domestic and dating violence. The hotline fills a gap in critically needed support services that are specialized to address the unique barriers often faced by Native survivors of intimate partner violence and abuse, as well as provide Native-specific support. The hotline is staffed by advocates with an understanding of Native cultures, as well as issues of tribal sovereignty Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 96 Funding for the program - net of any authorized changes such as transfers or reprogramming - for five For FY 2025, there were two awards (the National Domestic Violence Hotline for $16,989,375 and the for continued support of the data analysis and reporting system project. For FY 2026, the two awards and The FY 2027 request for the National Domestic Violence Hotline is $20.5 million, the same as the FY 2026 level. These funds will assist the Hotline in answering calls, digital contacts, and texts messages and support investments in hotline advocates and technology infrastructure to ensure a timely response to requests for help by phone, text, or online chat. Funds will continue to support the implementation of a strategic plan for assessments and improvements to response time, such as enhanced technology capacity, website optimization to assist and educate users, triage methodology for Hotline callers and contactors, and use of artificial intelligence solutions for non-crisis and non-victim contactors. Funding will sustain the staffing capacity for 65 hotline advocates who will be available to answer more calls and be on-call whenever there are surges in call volume. For FY 2027, it is estimated that two awards will be the same amounts from FY 2026 with continued financial support of the data analysis performance progress reporting. 14xii, 14xiv, 14xv, and 14xvi are being replaced by measure 14xvii. Measure 14xiii is being replaced by Result / Target for Recent Target Target FY 2026 Target 14A National Domestic Result / (Summary of Administration for Children, Families, and Communities Page 97 Result / Target for Recent Target Target FY 2026 Target 14B1 Increase the Result / (Summary of Discontinued Discontinued capacity of the Hotline Result) Discontinued Discontinued Maintain to respond to increased FY 2025: 67% Maintain of total annual chats to 75% 75% capacity of the Hotline FY 2025: 72% to respond to increased Target: 70% of total annual texts to FY 2025: 70% 14C Increase the (Target Not Met)

Extracted from Administration for Children, Families, and Communities, p. 10. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

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Confidence mix · 1 medium

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