Budget Cuts Hit Domestic Violence Programs

Gov. Bobby Jindal's latest round of budget cuts is falling on shelters that take in battered women and other domestic violence prevention providers.

The reductions were made to help close a $166 million midyear budget deficit.

The Advocate reports funding for family violence prevention and intervention programs was cut by more than $998,000. That's a 16 percent drop in the dollars spent on contracts the state holds with shelters and other domestic violence programs.

In Baton Rouge, shelter director Audrey Wascome says she may have to pare the number of beds for battered women and children by a third.

Dale Standifer, executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Women and Children in the New Orleans area, says the cuts will erode funding for an emergency shelter.