President Biden released his budget on March 11 officially launching the process for Fiscal Year ‘25 appropriations. While it provides an important insight into the priorities of the White House and includes new initiatives that reflect his commitment to preventing violence and abuse, Congress has also agreed to constrain overall spending. We break down in this blog what the budget means in terms of violence prevention.
Strengthening families through economic support is smart and good public policy! When parents can meet their children’s basic needs and provide food, shelter, and medical care, while also maintaining financial security through emergencies, children are better off.
Recent headlines have reported on the issue of sexual violence during war time. FUTURES condemns all forms of violence against women and girls, everywhere.
Kids should not be separated from their families. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Protection of Kids in Detention (PROKID) Act, which would improve and enforce transparency, protection, and accountability for all immigrant children in government custody. The PROKID Act would ensure that the rights afforded to children by the Flores Settlement Agreement, the 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), and other relevant statutes and standards are properly enforced.
Read here our funding requests that advocate for important programs and initiatives within the President’s Budget and appropriations that help reduce and prevent violence against women, girls and children globally.
Every seven minutes a child dies as a result of violence and half of all children globally (1 billion) are victims of violence each year. The Strengthening Efforts to End Violence Against Children Act (SEEVAC) will update and strengthen existing U.S. Government efforts to end violence against children, improve interagency coordination in addressing violence, and promote the use of evidence-based strategies and information gathering capabilities.
FUTURES’ Vice President of Public Policy and Advocacy Kiersten Stewart co-writes about the importance of the Family Medical Leave Act, and how we need to expand it to include Paid Leave for survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, or abuse. Read the full article by Stewart and Becker here.
Futures Without Violence strongly opposes work requirements currently being discussed as part of the debt ceiling/budget negotiations because they would be particularly harmful to victims of domestic violence and children experiencing abuse and neglect. Read our statement on the issue here.
Safe Leave is an essential type of leave from work that allows survivors or family members close to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, or stalking to take protected time off for many reasons related to the violence they’re experiencing. Safe leave is important because it allows survivors to maintain employment and the subsequent economic resources essential to gaining and maintaining safety. Read more on Safe Leave in our fact sheet.
The Healthy Families Act (HFA) sets a national paid sick days standard by providing workers in businesses with 15 or more employees to earn up to seven job-protected paid sick days each year. HFA specifies paid sick days can be used by survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking who need to take time off from work to seek medical attention, obtain assistance, seek services, seek relocation or take legal action to address the effects of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking for the employee or a family member.
The FAMILY Act establishes a national paid family and medical leave program. The Act provides workers with up to 12 weeks of partial income when they take time for their own serious health conditions, including pregnancy and childbirth recovery; the serious health condition of a family member; the birth or adoption of a child; to address the effects of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking and/or to make certain arrangements arising from the military deployment of a spouse, child or parent.
The bipartisan RISE from Trauma Act would make a big difference in the lives of families and communities most impacted by trauma. It would invest in the tools necessary for communities to recognize and coordinate services to prevent and address the effects of trauma.
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