[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[October 3, 1996]
[Pages 1751-1752]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Memorandum on Guidelines to States for Implementing the Family Violence 
Provisions of Welfare Reform Legislation
October 3, 1996

Memorandum for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Attorney 
General

Subject: Guidelines to States for Implementing the Family Violence 
Provisions

    Domestic violence has a devastating impact on families and 
communities. Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are subject 
to assault, rape, or murder at the hands of an intimate family member. 
Our children's futures are severely threatened by the fact that they 
live in homes with domestic violence. We know that children who grow up 
with such violence are more likely to become victims or batterers 
themselves. The violence in our homes is self-perpetuating and 
eventually it spills into our schools, our communities, and our 
workplaces.
    Domestic violence can be particularly damaging to women and children 
in low-income families. The profound mental and physical effects of 
domestic violence can often interfere with victims' efforts to pursue 
education or employment--to become self-sufficient and independent. 
Moreover, it is often the case that the abusers themselves fight to keep 
their victims from becoming independent.
    As we reform our Nation's welfare system, we must make sure that 
welfare-to-work programs across the country have the tools, the 
training, and the flexibility necessary to help battered women move 
successfully into the work force and became self-sufficient.
    For these reasons, I strongly encourage States to implement the 
Wellstone/Murray Family Violence provisions of the Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 
(Public Law 104-193, section 402(a)(7)). These provisions invite States 
to increase services for battered women through welfare programs and 
help these women move successfully and permanently into the workplace. 
The Family Violence provisions are critical in responding to the unique 
needs faced by women and families subjected to domestic violence.
    As we move forward on our historical mission to reform the welfare 
system, this Administration is committed to offering States assistance 
in their efforts to implement the Family Violence provisions.
    Accordingly, I direct the Secretary of the Department of Health and 
Human Services and the Attorney General to develop guidance for States 
to assist and facilitate the implementation of the Family Violence 
provisions. In crafting this guidance, the Departments of Health and 
Human Services and Justice should work with States, domestic violence 
experts, victims' services programs, law enforcement, medical 
professionals, and others involved in fighting domestic violence. These 
agencies should recommend

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standards and procedures that will help make transitional assistance 
programs fully responsive to the needs of battered women.
    The Secretary of Health and Human Services is further directed to 
provide States with technical assistance as they work to implement the 
Family Violence provisions.
    Finally, to more accurately study the scope of the problem, we 
should examine statutory rape, domestic violence, and sexual assault as 
threats to safety and barriers to self-sufficiency. I therefore direct 
the Attorney General and the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
make it a priority to understand the incidence of statutory rape, 
domestic violence, and sexual assault in the lives of poor families, and 
to recommend the best assessment, referral, and delivery models to 
improve safety and self-sufficiency for poor families who are victims of 
domestic violence.
    I ask the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Attorney 
General to report to me in writing 90 days from the date of this 
memorandum on the specific progress that has been made toward these 
goals.

                                                      William J. Clinton