Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

Public Assistance and Housing 263
protect the survivor and her children while support is pursued. 48 For example,
while a child support case is proceeding, the DVL may request the Child Support
Collection and Enforcement Unit to take steps to maintain confidentiality of
certain information about the client or limit the abuser’s contact with the client in
court. 49 Partial employment waivers may mandate the client to be involved with
work activity, but require her to travel to a different job site outside of her
abuser’s community.
We have found that minimal advocacy, such as speaking directly to the
DVL or sending a compelling advocacy letter on the client’s behalf, often results
in the granting of a full or partial waiver. Advocates need to explain clearly and
convincingly how domestic violence makes it unsafe for the applicant or
recipient to comply with programmatic requirements. These letters must be
explicit. For example, “Ms. X is a survivor of domestic violence and needs a
waiver” is helpful, but “Ms. X’s abuser is constantly threatening to kill her if he
is served with a petition for support. Ms. X’s abuser has in the past acted on his
threats to kill her by choking her and hitting her until the police were called or
Ms. X managed to escape. If Ms. X’s abuser receives a petition for child
support, he will not distinguish between the agency’s actions and Ms. X’s
actions. He will blame Ms. X and will likely act on his threats to kill her. Ms. X
must be given a permanent full child support waiver to stay safe and to escape
her abuser’s threats of violence” is more likely to be successful. If the request
for a waiver is denied, or a full waiver was requested but a partial waiver was
granted, the client may (and should) pursue a fair hearing.
Some communities have alternative programs that do not waive but instead
modify the welfare requirements that domestic violence survivors must fulfill.
For example, New York City’s Human Resources Administration / Department
of Social Services (HRA/DSS) established a pilot project known as ADVENT
(the Anti-Domestic Violence Eligibility Needs Team). 50 ADVENT allows
survivors in domestic violence shelters to include “domestic-violence related
services” when satisfying their work requirement. 51 Advocates should note,
however, that a waiver is always more beneficial than a program like ADVENT
because applicants or recipients cannot be sanctioned for not fulfilling waived
requirements.
Confidentiality Concerns
Because survivors may be hesitant to share sensitive information with social
services agencies, confidentiality safeguards were implemented to address both
applicant or recipient information and records. Disclosure of domestic violence