2016 VA DATA C HANGES Virginia’s Sexual and Domestic Violence Data Collection System

O VERVIEW 2016 VAdata changes will accommodate the DCJS Sexual Assault Grant Program (SAGP) data report changes that are a result of new federal VOCA data collection and reporting requirements. These new requirements will impact domestic violence services AFTER VOCA funding moves to DCJS in July, 2016, and VAdata will be ready to meet those needs as well.

O VERVIEW ( CONTINUED ) Several other changes were made at the request of the SDVAs using VAdata and with the approval of the VAdata Advisory Committee.

This brief training module will summarize changes to all of the forms and accompanying changes to data entry practices. Early in 2016, the Action Alliance and DCJS will provide a webinar to further clarify these changes and respond to questions.

C OMMUNITY E NGAGEMENT F ORM

There is only one change to the Community Engagement form for This change will allow SDVAs to document additional information about each Community Engagement Activity based upon your unique agency needs.

A new field appears on the Information about Participants section of the form. The field is titled: Information About Activity. In the Information About Activity text box, you may enter information your agency wishes to collect. This information is not required, but you may wish to enter specific information such as the title of the presentation or its specific location.

The content of this Information About Activity text box will be added to the Community Engagement report later in 2016.

OVERVIEW OF CHANGES To the Hotline and Advocacy Forms

H OTLINE FORM REFLECTS MULTIPLE VENUES FOR CRISIS SERVICES AND C OUNTS “ NEW ” IN A DIFFERENT WAY The Hotline form will capture whether the crisis intervention service was delivered over the phone, by , by text or chat, or through the mail. A new question asks: “Is this the first time this person has contacted your agency this fiscal year?” Affirmative answers will be counted as “new” service recipients.

E XPANDED D EMOGRAPHICS Age at the time of the PRIMARY VICTIMIZATION (a new required field) Is this individual: A veteran? Deaf/Hard of Hearing? Homeless? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Queer?

C HANGES TO THE “ PRESENTING EXPERIENCE OF VIOLENCE ” An option to indicate that an experience of sexual violence involved multiple perpetrators; A distinction between child or youth abuse and neglect and “teen dating violence; A new option to indicate “Other Presenting Violence”; and A requirement for Advocacy Services to complete at least one “presenting experience” (the option will remain to include more than one form of violence).

A DDITIONS TO THE L IST OF S ERVICES SDVA S P ROVIDE Immigration Assistance Immigration Attorney Assistance Information about Victim Rights Law Enforcement Interview Advocacy/Accompaniment On-scene Crisis Response DOW distributed

A N EW M ETHOD FOR D ETERMINING W HICH S ERVICES ARE I NCLUDED ON W HICH R EPORTS Federal, state and local funders are moving in two directions simultaneously—creating a challenge for SDVAs as you report on the services you provide. Some funders want to understand ALL of the services that you provide and consider their funding a form of support for each of those services. Other funders prefer to receive a report that only includes the specific services that were directly supported by their funding. VAdata is moving in the direction of making it easier for SDVAs to respond to both of these reporting requirements.

N EW VOCA R EPORTING R EQUIREMENTS Beginning in January, 2016, the federal VOCA reporting requirements include a report on EACH SERVICE that is provided with VOCA funds. This is a change from reporting all services provided to any “new” victim served by VOCA funded agencies. To accommodate this change a new field has been added to the Advocacy “Service Contact” page— ”Service Contact Funded By” This will be a REQUIRED field and the additional options that will appear in January include: DCJS- SAGP, VDSS and Other

E NSURING A CCURATE R EPORTS The “Service Contact Funded By” field will tell VAdata which services to include in which report—if DCJS- SAGP is checked the service as well as all of the information about that service recipient will be included in the SAGP report. Similarly, if VDSS or Other are checked, the information will appear in those reports. Advocates MUST check at least one box, and may check as many boxes as apply. SDVA Directors MUST provide guidance to staff about which services are funded by SAGP, VDSS, and/or Other sources.

C HANGES TO THE H OTLINE AND A DVOCACY F ORMS Continue with this training to learn about the specific changes that are being made on each form.

H OTLINE F ORM

One item was added to the Hotline form at the request of SDVAs. Services provided via is located in the top section of the form, directly under Date of Contact. Here you may record how you communicated with the person (referred to as the “caller”). This information is not required but will provide your agency with a means to track your methods of communication. This information will be added to the Hotline Data report later in 2016.

The remainder of the 2016 Hotline Form changes were made to accommodate the new DCJS Sexual Assault Grant Program (DCJS-SAGP) data report. Under Demographics of Caller, we added a REQUIRED field, Approximate Age at the time of the primary victimization. The new DCJS-SAGP report requires this information, and it requires that only one age be entered (if the caller had multiple victimizations at different ages, you will need to determine the primary victimization and the caller’s age at the time of that victimization).

Several items were added under Other demographics: Item #4 was changed from Is any household member a dependent of, active, or retired military? to - Is the person a veteran? Item #5 was changed from Has the caller used your program services before? to – Is this the first time this person has contacted your agency this fiscal year? Please note that this item is REQUIRED. Items #11 and #12 were added: Does the person identify as deaf or hard of hearing? Does the person identify as homeless?

There were no changes to Presenting Sexual Violence but two changes to Presenting Domestic Violence: Under Type of Domestic Violence Experienced: Child/Youth - Domestic Violence/Abuse was changed to Child/Youth - Abuse/Neglect Teen Dating Violence was added

A new section was added to the Hotline form. It appears directly below the Presenting Domestic Violence section. In the new section, Other Presenting Violence, you may enter types of violence the caller experienced other than Sexual or Domestic Violence that were relevant to the services provided by your agency. We also added Sexual Violence with Multiple Perpetrators to accommodate SDVA advocates who wish to document situations where victims are assaulted by more than one person. Please note that you may select as many types of violence as apply.

O THER P RESENTING V IOLENCE :

Two new Services Provided were added: Immigration Assistance Information about Victim Rights

The last section of the Hotline Form, Service Contact Funded By has been changed in 2 important ways: Three funding sources were added: DCJS-SAGP VDSS Other For 2016 contacts, you must select at least one funding source, and you may select all that apply. Advocates completing these forms will need to consult with agency Directors to determine what types of calls are funded by which source. It is important to note that only those designed “DCJS-SAGP” will appear in the DCJS Sexual Assault Grant Program report.

A DVOCACY F ORM

All of the 2016 Advocacy Form changes were made to accommodate the new DCJS Sexual Assault Grant Program (DCJS-SAGP) data report. Under Demographics of Person Served, we added a REQUIRED field, Approximate Age at the time of the primary victimization. The new DCJS-SAGP report requires this information, and it requires that only one age be entered (if the person had multiple victimizations at different ages, you will need to determine the primary victimization and the person’s age at the time of that victimization).

Several items were added under Other demographics: Item #4 was changed from Is any household member a dependent of, active, or retired military? to - Is the person a veteran? Items #9-11 were added: Does the person identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Queer? (note that this information previously appeared on the pop-up box along with the transgender information) Does the person identify as deaf or hard of hearing? Does the person identify as homeless?

There were no changes to Presenting Sexual Violence but two changes to Presenting Domestic Violence: Under Type of Domestic Violence Experienced: Child/Youth - Domestic Violence/Abuse was changed to Child/Youth - Abuse/Neglect Teen Dating Violence was added

A new section was added to the Advocacy form In the new section, Other Presenting Experience, you may enter types of violence the person experienced other than Sexual or Domestic Violence that were relevant to the services provided by your agency.. We also added Sexual Violence with Multiple Perpetrators to accommodate SDVA advocates who wish to document situations where victims are assaulted by more than one person. Please note that you may select as many types of violence as apply. If the person has experienced NO VIOLENCE (ex., is homeless), please indicate No Violence Experienced.

O THER P RESENTING E XPERIENCE :

Beginning in 2016, all Advocacy Forms will REQUIRE that at least one of the Presenting experience sheets be completed. Those include: Presenting Sexual Violence Presenting Domestic Violence Other Presenting Experience As a reminder, a new Presenting Sexual Violence or Presenting Domestic Violence sheet needs to be completed for EACH presenting experience. For example, if a person experienced BOTH child and adult sexual violence, you would need to complete a separate Presenting Sexual Violence sheet for each.

The Services and Referrals section has been rearranged and categorized to look more like the new DCJS-SAGP report. Several additional services were added: Information about Victim Rights Law enforcement interview advocacy/accompaniment Immigration Assistance On-scene crisis response DOW survey distributed Immigration Attorney Assistance

The new DCJS-SAGP report collects data not only about the numbers of people served but also the numbers of services provided. In order to calculate the number of services, you must complete a new Services/Referrals sheet each time you provide services to a person. In the past, some advocates may have chosen to consolidate a week or more of contacts on a single Services/Referrals sheet. In order to accurately capture the total number of services provided, beginning in 2016, advocates must complete a Services/Referrals sheet each time services are provided.

The Service Contact Funded By section of BOTH the ‘Services and Referral’ sheet AND the ‘Shelter Services’ sheet has been changed in 2 important ways: Three funding sources were added: DCJS-SAGP VDSS Other For 2016 services, you must select at least one funding source, and you may select all that apply. Advocates completing these forms will need to consult with agency Directors to determine what types of services are funded by which source. It is important to note that only those designed “DCJS-SAGP” will appear in the DCJS Sexual Assault Grant Program report.

O THER I MPORTANT I NFORMATION

In January of 2016, many of you will need to add VAdata information for calls received and services provided in To do so: From the Hotline or Advocacy form menu, select: You will only have the ability to add 2015 forms until February 1, If this provides a hardship, please contact the Action Alliance for other arrangements.

To add VAdata information for calls received and services provided in 2016:

VERY IMPORTANT For all Hotline and Advocacy services provided beginning Jan 1, 2016, you will be required to enter information about funding source (Service Contact Funded By). Advocates completing VAdata forms must consult with agency Directors to determine under what circumstances to designate which funding source (multiple funding sources may be selected). The information from this section directly impacts what Hotline and Advocacy services data will be included with the related grant reports.

I F YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS : Many changes were made to the VAdata system. In that process, the VAdata staff may have made some errors. If the system is not operating as you expect, please do not hesitate to call your Action Alliance liaison. You may be able to help us identify a problem that needs to be fixed. If you have any questions about any changes (or anything else related to VAdata), please contact your Action Alliance liaison. Call to contact us by phone.