Gov. McDonnell's pro-family push draws concerns

RICHMOND

Advocates for victims of domestic violence say their programs stand to lose $1.2 million in government funding under a proposal to redirect money to groups that support the underlying goals of Gov. Bob McDonnell's marriage promotion initiative.

The money at stake is grants distributed by the state Department of Social Services. A McDonnell-backed bill approved by the General Assembly this year directed the department to develop a grant-funding pool. The state grant application form issued this summer made clear that ideal candidates include organizations offering programs to end dependence on public aid, reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies and encourage two-parent families.

Those criteria dovetail with the state's pro-family initiative, and officials say they're simply using a limited pool of grant funds to best address problems facing many divided families. They argue that single mothers and their children are more likely to be dependent on the state for social welfare programs and say the initiative, dubbed "Strengthening Families," aims to reverse that trend.

Advocates of programs with funding at risk see it as a prioritization of certain values over others.

"You can't invest in strengthening families and expect a return on that investment if you don't have an equal investment in safety and opportunities for domestic violence victims to build a strong, healthy family free from abuse," said Gena Boyle of the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance. "We support strengthening families and, in fact, the services our programs provide work toward that goal every day. When violence and fear exists in a home, it is not a foundation for a healthy family."

Virginia Social Services commissioner Martin Brown said domestic violence programs have received money from the state in the past and potentially could receive grants under the new funding format.

"We're not doing this without the sensitivity that there is a need for domestic violence services," he said. "If a family is not safe, it's not strong."

Boyle said few programs around Virginia applied for the grant funding this summer because state officials advised advocates that shelters weren't "a good fit."

Brown disputes that, saying shelter leaders were among those contacted by the state about applying for the grant program.

Several anti-domestic violence programs in South Hampton Roads are among those receiving grants this year.

Help and Emergency Response Inc., which serves battered women and children in Portsmouth and Chesapeake, is receiving $28,500 to support a child trauma program. Losing the funding would "be a big hit" at a time when the demand for help is up and other resources are scarce, said the agency's director, Beth Cross.

The structure of the state grant program "would cut us out completely," she said. "We'd have to change our mission statement from saving lives of those who are fleeing from domestic violence to more of a marriage counseling focus."

While those services have value, she added, "it's not what we do, which is saving people's lives in the moment."

Separate from the grant pool, the Department of Social Services has requested $8.8 million annually in new state spending for the initiative as the governor's staff prepares his version of the next two-year state budget.

During a radio interview Tuesday, McDonnell defended the Strengthening Families initiative, which has been questioned by Democrats and others.

"The more you can keep an intact, two-parent family, or at least both parents involved with a kid, the better outcomes," he said on the air. "Everybody agrees with that. So that was the purpose of it. This is a bipartisan initiative, and it's too bad that some want to do some sniping about this. Because as the family goes, so goes the nation. We've got to do better."

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com