The Woodlands Edition | February 2022

According to the Texas Council on Family Violence, five bills were passed in the 87th Texas legislative session that benefit victims of domestic and family violence. Legislation makes progress

victims do call themselves, the vast majority of it is in the moment of cri- sis when they think they’re either not going to make it out alive or they’re going to be seriously hurt or injured.” Hutson said victims are more likely to reach out to local support systems, such as the Montgomery County Women’s Center. Ten of the 13 law enforcement agen- cies in Montgomery County provided family violence reports to the Texas Department of Public Safety Uniform Crime Reporting System. According to the data, there were 2,961 reported incidents of family violence in Mont- gomery County in 2019. However, according to Hutson, there were 49,618 hotline calls to MCWC. In 2020, the incidents increased roughly 7%, while hotline calls increased 31%. In 2021, incidents and hotline calls were still 6.6% and 7% over 2019, respectively. “I think [we need] education, awareness, understanding and also for the community [to understand] that we’re talking about one in three women,” Hutson said. “It’s so preva- lent. It’s everywhere; but it’s behind closed doors.” Center services strained On Sept. 10, 2020, 93% of identified domestic violence programs in Texas participated in a one-day national count of domestic violence services conducted by the National Network to End Domestic Violence. The national count found 948 requests for services on this day were unmet due to a lack of resources. Both the MCWC and Houston Area Women’s Center—which often work together to place victims in the Houston region—continued to see increased inquiries and strained resources through 2021. Chau Nguyen, chief public strat- egies officer for the Houston Area

Women’s Center, said the center saw roughly a 16% increase in hotline calls from 2019 to 2020 and an additional 17% rise from 2020 to 2021. HAWC offers services to victims throughout the Greater Houston area and in Har- ris County. Nguyen said HAWC has a 120-shel- ter bed operation, and despite being the largest shelter provider in the Houston region, the center occasion- ally turns people away. “On any given night, our shelter beds are full. There is a large demand for emergency housing,” Nguyen said. “Sometimes we have to turn away people.” Both the MCWC and HAWC some- times place victims in hotel rooms when beds are full. “It’s a program we used pre-pan- demic, making two or three place- ments a month,” Nguyen said. “During the pandemic, we used it 20, 30, 40 times a month because of addi- tional funding.” Legislation aimed to help victims According to the Texas Council on Family Violence, five bills passed in the 87th Texas legislative session in 2021 that benefit victims of domestic and family violence. Hutson said she believes House Bill 766 is significant as it improves the immediate safety of a victim. Judges may issue conditions of bonds to protect victims from a per- son arrested for domestic violence, and prior to HB 766, law enforcement officers were unable to verify con- ditions of bonds in the Texas Crime Information Center, meaning they generally could not enforce the con- ditions of bond. As a result, victims, law enforcement, and the community remain at risk, and offenders are often not held accountable if they violate conditions of bonds. The bill, which went into effect

House Bill 766 House Bill 36 House Bill 1372 Senate Bill 798

The bill allows conditions of bonds to be entered into the Texas Crime Information Center so officers are aware when they come in contact with an offender violating a condition of bond.

The bill improves protective order statutes by ensuring timely issuance of orders, among other improvements.

The bill allows victims to separate their wireless cell phone numbers from their abuser’s account without attaching any prior fees or additional charges. The bill allows victims access to critical documents, such as birth certificates, by creating fee waivers. Many victims flee violence quickly and often without critical documents.

The bill protects survivors of financial abuse by enabling coerced debt victims to be declared victims of identity theft in state district court. House Bill 3529 SOURCES: TEXAS COUNCIL ON FAMILY VIOLENCE, TEXAS LEGISLATURE/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

Victims of violence often flee at night and without any belongings. Following the influx in inquiries, the MCWC is in need of resources to help provide supplies to survivors. For drop-off locations and requested items, visit www.mcwctx.org How to support the Montgomery County Women’s Center The shelter needs the following supplies, newor gently used: AA batteries Full-size toiletries

Jan. 1, requires the sheriff to enter the conditions of bonds into the Texas Crime Information Center, so they are accessible and verifiable by law enforcement. Additional pieces of legislation were passed to help survivors escape abusive situations by removing finan- cial barriers victims may face, such as fees associated with breaking cell phone plans and obtaining birth cer- tificates and drivers’ licenses. “[Ending domestic violence] takes an entire community because we know domestic violence doesn’t just affect a person—it affects the entire community,” Nguyen said. “It has this cascading effect on the first responders and the children that wit- ness violence, the hospital system, our workplace.”

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For more information, visit communityimpact.com .

SOURCE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY WOMEN’S CENTER/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

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THE WOODLANDS EDITION • FEBRUARY 2022