The Picture of Texas

If a survivor is a parent, their children are at the forefront of their planning for their family and their future. The majority of family violence providers did have a range of children’s services, including children’s support groups, after-school activities, parent-child activities, etc. In many cases these were referenced as being available within a shelter setting, but it was mentioned by both survivors and staff that there is a lack of services for younger children (under age 6) and for teenagers. Commonly mentioned barriers to accessing services for children included the timing of offered programs (some happened when parents were working), a requirement for a parent to meet with a child caseworker multiple times before participating in a program, transportation to and from appointments, and a lack of programs in shelters.

Survivors of family violence with children often experience compounded issues that can create barriers to achieving stability. Child care is a necessary component to a survivor’s ability to attain and maintain employment in order to ensure that they can provide secure housing and transportation. Available, accessible, quality child care was repeatedly mentioned as a key need in every State Plan report by both survivors and program staff. The gap in appropriate child care may affect other aspects of a survivor’s journey to healing. Without a safe place for children to go, a parent is forced to choose between staying with those children and accessing needed services for themselves, such as mental health services, substance abuse services, legal services, etc. No parent should be forced to choose between being a parent and their own wellness and progress.

Children are incredibly resilient, and Texas family violence programs should be promoting care and activities to children in both residential and non-residential programs. These efforts and funding sources should focus on holistic family-based interventions that support healing for the survivor, the child, as well as the family as unit while also giving the parent respite when needed. Some programs reported creative services, such as in-home parent mentoring, off-site child/parent excursions, and special facilities just for children to use (teen rooms, reading corners, etc.).

Texas does have some publicly-funded options for affordable and accessible child care for survivors of family violence, but these require collaboration from other systems. Family violence programs should collaborate with these outside agencies to investigate which options work best for their agency and the clients they serve. Some of these options include on-site and off-site child care settings. However, wait-lists can be long, for affordable child care and some communities have a limited number of child care facilities. Funder investments in direct client assistance to support children’s service should be awarded to programs to help survivors bridge this gap.