Sexual assault survivors’ needs are far from being fully met in Texas due to limited resources, according to a study released this month, and the pandemic has further strained the system.
In order to fully understand the needs of the 6.3 million Texans who have experienced sexual assault, the Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault at the University of Texas at Austin surveyed 342 service providers in the state. More funding and staffing is needed in order to provide critical services like therapy, prevention efforts and legal services to growing numbers of clients, respondents overwhelmingly said.
“Service providers are crying out for more staff and more therapists,” said Bruce Kellison, principal investigator and director of the Bureau of Business Research at UT Austin, who led the research on the report. “The lack of resources constricts their ability to meet the needs of survivors.”
The study, released Nov. 16, was made in partnership with Gov. Greg Abbott’s Sexual Assault Survivors’ Task Force, which was created with the bipartisan passage of House Bill 1590. The study will be used to inform and improve the state’s response to the needs of survivors.
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COVID-19 impact
The survey responses showed that many providers — which include advocacy groups, Title IX college offices, law enforcement agencies and more — felt the baseline capacities of their programs were strained by growing demand well before COVID-19. As the pandemic continues, advocates say there will likely be more survivors who need help.
“The additional burden of a victim being stuck at home, in some cases with their abusers and the fear of isolation, is an important aspect of what we know is going on,” said Kellison. “So many sexual assault cases happen in a home where family violence is an issue.”
Providers said they believe the pandemic is also causing an increase in the lethality and the intensity of abuse, said Melanie Susswein, director of communications for the institute and one of the study’s researchers. A second phase of the study will include interviews with survivors and will shed more light on the impact of COVID.
The virus has halted most in-person services, the survey found, which have become virtual. That has posed another obstacle for advocates in reaching survivors. “If you’re stuck at home living with the person abusing you, your ability to get online is very limited,” Kellison said.
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Outreach and prevention efforts have been significantly impacted across the state due to the pandemic, 45 percent of the providers said, because in-person events have been canceled. The providers have also been negatively financially impacted by the economic downturn and staff members are more stressed, the report says.
Unmet needs
In the Gulf Coast region, which includes Harris County, the greatest unmet needs are in therapy, accompaniment for survivors to legal and medical appointments, as well as outreach and prevention, according to the respondents.
“Prevention is an ongoing challenge, said Kellison. “ It can consist of going to community groups, schools, making public affairs announcements, or billboards advertising services. [Advocacy groups in Houston] do a large amount of that, but they are telling us that they could do more.”
The regions with the most overall unmet needs are Upper East and Southeast Texas, said Susswein.
The biggest unmet need across the state is sexual assault therapy and counseling options, according to the report. Nine out of 11 regions in the state reported not being able to fulfill all therapy requests. Therapists’ caseloads are maxed out and there are long wait lists for new clients, the researchers found. More funding and access to therapists with specialized training in childhood trauma is a particularly high need.
Resources for outreach and prevention efforts, such as early education and awareness-raising efforts, were lacking, according to 42 percent of the participants in the study.
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The need for legal services, especially in high-conflict custody cases, is not being met, 45 percent of the respondents said.
Emergency shelter and transitional housing options are limited, according to the report. There is a need for more shelter space and more services for human trafficking and non-intimate partner sexual assault survivors. Because the wait for transitional housing is long, some survivors have to stay in shelters longer than is ideal.
Survivors also need direct financial support, said Kellison, because they cannot heal if their basic needs are not being met.
Lack of transportation options is another obstacle for survivors, the report says, especially in rural areas where travel time for a forensic exam or counseling can exceed an hour.
Innovating response
Although stretched thin, providers have found a way to help every survivor who reaches out. By referring unmet service requests to a network of other agencies that offer the same services, providers have been able to disperse the growing need in Texas, said Kellison.
“When survivors across the state seek help, they’re going to get it,” he said.
Of the providers surveyed, 550 said they had made a total of 840 separate referrals for clients when resources were limited, according to the study. Of those referrals, 44 percent were made for the victim to organizations that provide services specifically for sexual assault survivors, 8 percent were made to state agencies or programs, and 10 percent to local community centers. The rest were made to food banks, health clinics, religious charities, housing authorities and homeless services.
The recommendation of the report is for policy makers to create an equitable model of resource allocation areas that have the most unmet needs.
“There is a finite pool resources,” said Kellison. “Policy makers have to look at data and come to an understanding of how to divide up limited resources to meet the needs of the most people in the state.”
hannah.dellinger@chron.com
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November 26, 2020 at 07:00PM
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