Domestic Violence Software – Designed for the Needs of VSPs

Domestic violence software allows an organization that provides victim services to document their work in a secure and easy format. Security is a core requirement for victim services case management software, because the situations can be personal and potentially life threatening. Domestic violence software should also be easy to use and provide strong reporting capabilities. It should be noted that organizations that help those who survive domestic violence are often referred to as victim service providers. 

The Unique Challenge for Victim Service Providers

In every Continuum of Care (CoC) a local Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) is used to gather data about persons experiencing homelessness.  This information is used to determine the extent of homelessness that exists in each community as well as to monitor which pathways and methods work best at helping persons experiencing homelessness find and maintain affordable permanent housing.  

Unfortunately there’s one group of people who are excluded from participating in the HMIS: Victim Service Providers (VSPs).  The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) prohibits Victim Service Providers from participating in an HMIS system for privacy reasons.  Under the HMIS Proposed Rule, agencies that exist solely to provide services to victims of domestic violence or VSPs need to use a separate HMIS Comparable Database as they are prohibited from entering any data (even de-identified data) into an HMIS. HMIS Comparable Databases must comply with all the same HMIS requirements but only houses data for a single Victim Service Provider. 

Meeting the Needs of VSPs

To meet this challenge we offer a Comparable Database solution that works just like a full HMIS, but has been scaled down to offer just the information that Victim Service Providers need.  

We provide all the reporting needed for CoC-funded projects as well as Emergency Solution Grant (ESG) funded projects including the HUD Annual Performance Report (HUD APR) and the ESG CAPER report.  In addition, AWARDS VSP offers the Point In Time Report, HMIS Data Quality Report, and custom ReportBuilders for building your own reports.  The database also offers all of the case management tools your agency needs to work with clients as they work towards getting back on their feet.  

Victim Service Providers who are part of a Coordinated Entry System will also have access to our FormBuilder tool so whatever assessment your CoC uses to evaluate clients can be built directly into the system. De-identified reports can be generated in many formats for sharing aggregate data with your Continuum of Care. In CoC’s where our HMIS and VSP software are used, de-identified reports can be shared that pull information in exactly the same format so that your CoC can have a full picture of homelessness in your community. 

Most importantly of all, our VSP software complies with the highest level of security and privacy, including 256-bit encryption and two-factor authentication. Protecting the confidentiality of domestic violence victims and survivors is our highest concern. 

Our team will be happy to work with you to see how our domestic violence software may be a fit for your agency.