Dane County victim-service agencies report more complex cases, funding strain and plan hospital domestic-violence response

Representatives from Dane County victim-service organizations reported rising case complexity, staff changes and funding uncertainty during the CCR network meeting, and described plans to pilot a domestic-violence (DV) response for hospital patients and to track criminal and civil case outcomes.

The agencies said they are seeing an increase in multi-trauma cases, more referrals from childcare providers and higher community exposure to gun violence, while state and federal funding uncertainty — particularly for VOCA and Medicaid-linked programs — is prompting hiring freezes and program adjustments.

Sonia Liston, a representative of UnityPoint Health Meriter’s forensic nursing program, said the program is “currently orienting 2 new staff” and reported “an increase in DV and triangulation cases within the past month or so, and an increase in complex mental health cases that are presenting as repeated assault,” making it difficult to find resources for those clients.

Amy (Victim Witness Unit) said the unit added leadership capacity in April: “we started our 2 new deputy director positions on April 7. They both started on the same day,” and that one deputy is overlapping with a retirement scheduled June 25. She also reported courtroom results: “last week, we won 2 assault trials — 1 was an adult assault trial, and 1 was a child assault trial.”

RCC (Rape Crisis Center) leaders described plans to expand hospital advocacy. RCC staff said they are exploring providing a DV response at area hospitals using existing 24-hour response infrastructure already used for other crises, and aim “by the end of the year [to] have a concentrated DV response program for hospital advocacy.” The RCC also said it expects a text line and virtual chat option to be operational by May, to provide a 24-hour access point for people who prefer text-based contact.

Agencies raised funding concerns tied to federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) disbursements and Medicaid funding that support local programs. An RCC representative said some organizations have experienced severe staffing losses: “We have had organizations here in our community that have had a 50% employee cut because of VOCA funding and they were unable to keep people moving forward.” The group urged outreach to state legislators to restore or stabilize VOCA funding.

Participants described ongoing work to improve data and case tracking. RCC said it will contribute to a court-watch program and use a shared database (Osnium) to follow cases from report through charging and disposition; the goal is to make more visible what happens after perpetration and to reduce myths about outcomes. The RCC also noted it already tracks strangulation when identified and discussed the importance of tracking concussions and other less-visible injuries.

Child-abuse CCR participants said their group has regrouped, reported about 20 attendees at a recent meeting and compiled roughly a dozen needs and priorities — with crisis mental-health services for victims repeatedly rising to the top. The CCRs are preparing consolidated requests for a joint presentation to the county committees tasked with budget and policy (the meeting date is still being scheduled).

Other operational notes reported during the meeting included UW–Madison’s attention to federal funding trends that affect campus services, Safe Harbor’s fundraiser scheduled for Saturday, May 3, and hiring efforts across RCC and allied agencies for advocate and supervisor positions.

No formal votes or legislative actions were recorded during this session; the meeting consisted of agency updates, program planning and requests for materials to prepare a joint briefing to county committees.

Looking ahead, agencies said they will: continue lobbying and outreach on VOCA and Medicaid-related funding; convene law enforcement, hospital and agency leaders to define the hospital DV response; and begin year-long tracking of criminal and civil case progress in 2025 to inform future policy and prosecution advocacy.