She Dialed for Help. The Line Was Dead. You Can Bring It Back to Life & Help Victims

A woman sits in her car outside an emergency room. Bruises are starting to bloom in deep color across her face. Blood has dried. She’s been sitting in her car for an hour, trying to summon the courage to go inside. She’s terrified, alone, and shaken. But she remembers a hotline number she once saw on a poster. Hope flickers. She dials. What she hears next shatters her: “We’re sorry, but we are no longer in service due to funding cuts.” This woman is now another statistic. A victim of a violent crime and now victimized again in a system that has stopped answering. At the Foundation Against Crime Victim Exploitation in Social Media ("F.A.C.E.S."), we know her story is not rare; that’s what makes it even more urgent.

In conversations about criminal justice, we often discuss routine issues like prosecution rates, sentencing guidelines, and recidivism, or outliers like unusual trials involving uncommon circumstances and outcomes. In true crime, the focus is on storytelling about the crime, the perpetrator, the investigation and in some cases, the trial. Far less attention is paid to the critical support systems for individuals who experience crime firsthand. The recent funding cut to victim services, including the devastating termination today of the National Center for Victims of Crime’s VictimConnect Resource Center, represents not only budget decisions, but also a profound failure to understand how victim services prevent cascading trauma throughout communities.

VictimConnect has served as a national lifeline for crime victims, including a hotline that supports tens of thousands of crime survivors each year, as well as providing resources to over 300,000 website visitors each year. VictimConnect’s dismantling leaves a gaping hole in the national infrastructure of victim support, particularly for underserved communities where local resources may be sparse or hard to access. For many victims- including survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, trafficking or hate crimes, among others- these services are lifelines towards safety, justice and healing.

As a victim service provider, demand continues to grow- not just in what we are doing at F.A.C.E.S., but for all victim service providers. In 2023, a survey revealed that almost seventy percent of sexual assault programs had an increase in services, while fifty-seven percent faced a reduction in staffing.[1] In 2023, the National Network to End Domestic Violence conducted a 24-hour survey of domestic violence service providers. The service revealed that in just ONE DAY, 76,975 domestic violence survivors were served. However, on that same day, 13,335 service requests were made by victims that did not receive assistance due to a lack of funding.[2] These statistics reflect domestic violence victim service providers-there are so many others, depending upon the type of victimization. Additionally, there are extensive areas of service expertise, including legal services, campus programs, Tribal programs, healthcare, and many more. Many are local service providers, operating on razor-thin margins, often relying on grants from the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). As funds diminish, providers will face impossible choices: reduce staff hours, eliminate programs entirely, create lengthy waitlists, or simply close entirely. Essentially, for every dollar cut from these programs, there is a person who may not receive the emergency housing, counseling, legal advocacy, or crisis intervention they so desperately need.

The consequences extend far beyond the immediate aftermath of a crime. Research shows that victims who receive prompt comprehensive support are more likely to experience improved outcomes, such as missing fewer days of work, experiencing better physical and mental wellbeing, and regaining overall stability faster.[3] In other words, victim services are not just compassionate, they are also cost-effective investments in community wellbeing and public safety.

We at F.A.C.E.S. urge you to contact your representatives and voice your concern about these vital funding cuts. We also urge you to consider making donations to non-profit victim service providers right now-not just to us, but to all providers. We urge you to use your voice and act- if we remain passive, nothing will change, and victims will be left without the support they need: victims will not get safe shelter; legal help; trauma counseling; advocacy support; crisis intervention; a voice on the other end of the phone. Your efforts can help make a difference. As vital crime victim support services disappear due to funding cuts, please help minimize a second devastating victimization to all crime victims.

[1] Wright, E. Cutting Federal Funding for Victim Service Providers Jeopardizes Americans’ Safety, March 31, 2025. Located at https://www.urban.org/urban-wire, citing National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Sexual Assault Services Program, available at NAESV SASP FY 25.docx.

[2] National Network to End Domestic Violence, 18th Annual Domestic Violence Counts Report National Summary. Sept. 2024. Available at 18th-annual-dv-counts-report-national-summary-final-en-1.pdf.

[3] See e.g.; iMPRoVE (Measures for Providers Responding to Victimization Experiences) Survey Measures: Outcomes. Available at: iMPRoVE | AggregateDashboard; Sullivan, C. Understanding How Domestic Violence Support Services Promote Survivor Well-being: A Conceptual Model. Journal of Family Violence, July 2017.