2025 session priorities
The following priorities highlight focus areas for CCADV to strengthen both statutory and administrative policy and practice that help domestic violence survivors to achieve safety and stability. The policy priorities seek to address the large number of complex factors that impact the ability of both the survivor and the family as a whole to live a life free from violence.
Securing critical funding for Safe Connect, the statewide domestic violence hotline
CCADV and our 18 member organizations are requesting $1,000,000 in state funding through the Department of Social Services to support Safe Connect, Connecticut’s statewide domestic violence hotline.
Each year, CCADV and our 18 member organizations provide life-saving services to nearly 40,000 domestic violence survivors and their children. Like many states, Connecticut has relied heavily on federal funding to fund victim services, through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). This funding has become unstable. In her October 2024 update, the director of the Office for Victims of Crime, a department within the U.S. Department of Justice, shared her concerns about the fund’s solvency. More than ever, survivors and their children need the State of Connecticut to prioritize funding for the programs that ensure they can find safety and build lives free from violence.
Requested state funding will support Safe Connect, the state’s 24/7 domestic violence hotline which handles approximately 25,000 contacts annually. Since its launch in 2019, Safe Connect has been fully funded by VOCA, which will no longer be possible as any VOCA funding that remains available for domestic violence will be used to support court- and community-based advocates at CCADV’s 18 member organizations. Prior to Safe Connect, each individual CCADV member organization was responsible for providing 24/7 hotline coverage but did not receive any funding to do so. Safe Connect provides a single, coordinated, statewide entry point for domestic violence services, which is key to a successful survivor-centered, trauma-informed service system in Connecticut.
Read our policy brief to learn more!
Domestic Violence Survivor Justice Act
The Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA) significantly reduces harm to domestic violence survivors in Connecticut by giving the justice system the power to reduce a survivor’s punishment if domestic violence was a contributing factor in their offense. It also allows currently incarcerated survivors to apply for sentence modification if they are able to meet specific requirements.
Studies consistently show a strong correlation between domestic violence and a higher risk of incarceration. For survivors, the most common pathways into criminalization include housing insecurity, drug use, and coercion into an offense by an abuser. For instance, in New York, a survivor who received relief under the DVSJA had an abusive boyfriend who threatened to harm her children if she did not serve as a driver in his robberies. The DVSJA mitigates the double punishment many survivors face: the abuse itself and the criminalization of common survival strategies, as well as ensures Connecticut law keeps pace with our evolving understanding of domestic violence.
Currently the DVSJA is law in New York, Oklahoma, and Illinois, with proposed legislation being considered in Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Oregon.
Access to Safe, Stable, affordable Housing
Last fiscal year, our members housed over 3,000 adults and children across multiple domestic violence housing programs, including over 1,800 in shelter. The average length of stay in shelter was 53 days and our shelters ran at 129% capacity. One of the greatest needs we see among survivors is the need for safe, stable, affordable housing. Emergency shelter should be just that – a temporary solution to an emergency. Yet moving survivors on from shelter to long-term housing that they can afford is becoming increasingly difficult in Connecticut. How do you leave if you have nowhere to go?
CCADV supports policies that truly increase affordable housing options in our state. And affordable housing options should be available everywhere – it is not easy for survivors to move their children to new schools or move away from the support systems they’ve built with family, friends, coworkers, healthcare providers, etc. A stable support system is critical to the safety and well-being of both the survivor and their children.
Want to learn more? Check out our full set of 2025 Policy Priorities below!
2025 policy priorities
