The 1996 welfare reform law threatens the independence and integrity of domestic violence agencies for two reasons: (a) The “work-first” approach may distort their primary mission, especially because victims of domestic violence are at great risk in the workplace, and (b) these agencies can be considered feminist organizations. To protect the agencies' organizational integrity and quality of services, administrators, advocates, and researchers need to work toward three goals: to legislate the primacy of the safety goal, reevaluate available funding streams, and minimize competition and maximize collaboration and participation.
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