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Domestic Violence and Welfare Recipients

The Family Violence Option

Since 1997 the Women’s Law Project has assisted the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) in providing flexibility and confidentiality to survivors of domestic violence on welfare through implementation of the federal Family Violence Option (FVO). Through participation on DPW’s TANF/Domestic Violence Task Force, WLP has provided extensive input into the state policies and procedures that provide domestic violence victims with referrals for services, confidential disclosure of domestic violence and location information, and, when necessary, waivers of program requirements that have potential to place a victim of domestic violence and her family at risk of further violence or penalize her. See the Deskguide Summary of the FVO in Pennsylvania and the Domestic Violence Verification Form for Waivers of program requirements in English and in Spanish, Formulario de Verificacion de Violencia Domestica (Espanol).