H OTLINE D ATA C OLLECTION F ORM VAdata: Virginia’s Sexual and Domestic Violence Data Collection System

W HAT IS A H OTLINE C ALL ? A hotline call is any call where you provide crisis/support services by phone to a victim, family/friend of victim, parent/guardian of victim, or perpetrator. You will use the hotline form for all direct service calls, even those that come in through your business line.

W HAT IS A H OTLINE C ALL ? Sometimes a hotline call isn’t actually a call. Many agencies are expanding hotline services to communicate via text, chat, and . If you are utilizing one of these methods of communication to provide hotline services, you can record how you communicated with the person (referred to as the “caller”) using the Services Provided Via drop-down list. This information is not required but will provide your agency with a means to track your methods of communication.

I NFORMATION C OLLECTED ON THE H OTLINE F ORM Caller Demographics Information on Presenting Sexual and/or Domestic Violence Relationship of Caller to Victim Type of Sexual and/or Domestic Violence Experienced Perpetrator Information Information on Other Presenting Violence (any violence the caller may have experienced other than Sexual or Domestic Violence that were relevant to the services provided by your agency)

I NFORMATION C OLLECTED ( CONT.) Risk Assessment Services and Referrals Provided Length of Hotline Call Funding Source of Service Contact

W HY W E C OLLECT W HAT W E D O Demographics To show that sexual and domestic violence affect people of different ages, races, genders, etc. Information such as age, race, disability status, etc. may influence your service delivery Presenting Sexual and Domestic Violence Experience Allows specific information to be collected about experiences of sexual and/or domestic violence Information on Other Presenting Violence Allows information to be collected about other forms of violence that a victim may have experienced that were not sexual or domestic violence (but were relevant to the services provided by your agency)

W HY W E C OLLECT W HAT W E D O Risk Assessment We include this on hotline because it is a reminder of potential safety risks with sexual and/or domestic violence We also hope that this promotes risk assessment and safety planning for ALL hotline calls Services and Referrals Captures the remarkable work you all do Funding Source of Service Contact We collect this information to make sure that the appropriate services are being counted in the appropriate reports

I NFORMATION R EQUIRED TO S UBMIT F ORM For all hotline calls, these fields are required: Date Staff Name Gender Race/Ethnicity (you can select unknown) Approximate Age (it’s OK to estimate) Approximate Age at the Time of Primary Victimization (it’s OK to estimate) Locality (you can select unknown) Referral Source (you can select unknown) At least one service Length of Call

I NFORMATION R EQUIRED ( CONT.) For hotline calls with a presenting sexual and/or domestic violence experience, these fields are required: Relationship of Caller to Victim Type of Sexual and/or Domestic Violence Relationship of Perpetrator to Victim (you can select unknown) Please note: All other perpetrator information is optional and only needs to be included if known.

I NFORMATION R EQUIRED ( CONT.) For each hotline call, you must select at least one funding source, and you may select all that apply. Service Contact Funded By can be found on the last section of the Hotline Form. 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.

I MPORTANT N OTE : On the Hotline Form, you will see these questions: Please respond to these questions for ALL survivors who request emergency housing/shelter (including those who may be from out of your area or who may not be in imminent danger). It is crucial that we document when survivors are seeking shelter but those shelters are full.

Q UESTIONS A BOUT THE H OTLINE F ORM What about calls from allied professionals about a specific victim? If the allied professional is seeking general information, then please complete a Community Engagement form. If they are addressing a specific victim or family, then proceed with a hotline form. If you choose to report calls from allied professionals on the hotline form, you will need to complete the demographics section using the allied professional’s demographics.

Q UESTIONS (C ONT.) Do we fill out a form for crisis calls that are not related to a sexual and/or domestic violence situation? Yes. There are places on the form to indicate that it is not a sexual and/or domestic violence related call.

Q UESTIONS (C ONT.) Why are we collecting ‘Approximate Age at the time of the Primary Victimization’? The field Approximate Age at the time of the primary victimization is a REQUIRED field that was added to the Hotline Form in This field was added because 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 person’s age at the time of the very first victimization – even if the same victimization type occurred multiple times, different victimization types occurred over time, and/or the person did not disclose the victimization(s) until years after).

If an allied professional, friend, or family member calls, do we still have to enter the ‘Approximate Age at the time of the Primary Victimization’? Yes. The field Approximate Age at the time of the primary victimization is a REQUIRED field. Demographic information (like gender, approximate age, race/ethnicity, etc.) should still be collected about the caller (the allied professional, friend, or family member) and advocates should estimate the Approximate Age at the time of the primary victimization for the person the caller is calling on behalf of. Q UESTIONS (C ONT.)

What about all of the other calls we receive on the hotline, such as requests for general information on our services, materials, donations, etc.? Record these calls on the Community Engagement form.

Q UESTIONS (C ONT.) What about hang up calls? We let local agencies decide how to handle recording these calls. Two options to consider: 1. You don’t record the call because there was no information or service provided. 2. You can record the call as a non-SV and non-DV hotline call.

H ELP O PTIONS You may note this symbol by several fields on the form: Click on the symbol to receive information about the field.

C OMMENTS AND S UGGESTIONS This is a great place to make a suggestion or request support that does not need immediate attention. If you need immediate attention, please give us a call. Often we will need additional information from you, so a call is usually more expedient than an .

HELP! VA DATA ’ S NOT WORKING. If you think something is wrong with VAdata, please let us know! Give us a call at We don’t use VAdata every day (like you do), so sometimes the only way that we know something is broken is when you tell us. We also like to talk with you by phone when you have questions, because we usually want information that you might not know we need.

V ADATA ’ S W ORKING B UT I S TILL N EED H ELP ! W HO DO I CONTACT ? Please contact your assigned SDVA liaison at If they are unable to respond to your immediate concern, they will contact the VAdata staff for support.