Funding Crisis Threatens Washington’s Crime Victim Services

Sara Owen never truly clocks out. As one of only two advocates at Beyond Survival, a sexual abuse resource center in Grays Harbor County, she constantly monitors a 24-hour crisis line while supporting survivors through court and hospital visits.

With few nurses in the county trained to perform sexual assault exams, Owen sometimes spends up to six hours driving clients to Olympia or Tacoma, leaving just one colleague to manage all other cases.

Beyond Survival once employed five full-time advocates like Owen in this rural coastal region. Now, amid plummeting federal funding, it’s one of many Washington nonprofits forced to cut positions and scale back services. The state’s federal award through the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) has plunged 76% between 2018 and 2024, from $74.7 million to just $17.86 million.

“When larger foundational things like hospitals and children’s advocacy centers are losing their funding to the point where they’re closing doors, there’s only so much that we can do,” Owen said.

The impact across Washington has been devastating. Organizations report laying off therapists and advocates, taking on unsustainable caseloads, and reducing emergency financial assistance for survivors. According to the state Department of Commerce, thousands have been turned away from domestic violence shelters.

Children’s advocacy centers, which provide trauma-informed forensic interviews and mental health resources for abused children, have slashed programs and face potential closure. Rural hospitals, already struggling with shortages of sexual assault nurse examiners, could see additional layoffs as Trump administration Medicaid cuts take effect.

Meanwhile, prosecutor’s offices have struggled to keep survivors engaged in lengthy court cases as funding for victim advocates dwindles.

“That ask, really, for this year, is just to not have the entire system collapse,” said Sherrie Tinoco, public policy director at the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence. “And at the same time, that system is actively breaking.”

Washington state has attempted to fill the gap left by diminished federal funding, allocating $20 million last year to crime victim services. But with the state facing a projected $1.6 billion budget shortfall and Governor Bob Ferguson proposing significant cuts, service providers fear that without a permanent funding solution, more services will be eliminated, waitlists will grow, and rural agencies might shut down completely.

Ferguson has proposed allocating $12 million toward crime victim services next fiscal year—about $9 million less than advocates requested.

Rural areas are experiencing the harshest impacts. In Grays Harbor County, one of Washington’s poorest regions, the children’s advocacy center closed last year. Providence Abuse Intervention Center, which provides medical care for child abuse victims across five counties, announced it would close by the end of 2025, though it later reversed course after public pushback. Providers still expect significant reductions in medical services and staff.

The nonprofit Rural Resources, supporting victims across five Eastern Washington counties, had to cut its budget by about 20% despite supplemental state funding, according to Communications Manager Alaina Kowitz.

In Columbia County, a rural community of just 4,000 people, domestic violence services are limited to a satellite office managed by a neighboring county’s YWCA. The prosecutor’s office has only one victim witness coordinator who also serves as a legal assistant.

“We get so many people that will call 911 just to get out of that immediate situation because they’re being assaulted. But they never stick with it,” said Columbia County Interim Prosecuting Attorney Jennine Christensen. “If there aren’t services for them and nothing really to help them, how likely are they to come back next time and make a report?”

The funding crisis has been compounded by a 2023 law that stopped courts from ordering most offenders to pay a $250 to $500 state crime victim penalty. While lawmakers intended to prevent low-income defendants from accumulating unpayable debt, the state hasn’t fully replaced this revenue source.

“The problem is that the state didn’t keep its promise,” said state Rep. Lauren Davis, D-Shoreline, who relied on a victim advocate when pursuing protection against a domestic abuser—a position that no longer exists in Thurston County.

Russell Brown, executive director of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, estimates that prosecutors’ victim advocate programs should receive about $7 million annually to replace the lost penalty assessment revenue. The state currently contributes just $2 million per year.

Many prosecutor’s offices can now assign victim advocates only for the most serious cases, like homicides or violent sexual assaults. Yet over 80% of domestic violence arrests in Washington are filed as misdemeanors, according to Washington State Patrol data.

Last year, Davis and Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, introduced legislation to stabilize victim services funding by requiring the state treasurer to deposit funds into a new victim services account annually. Despite widespread support, the bill stalled due to its estimated $155 million cost through 2031.

Federal efforts have had limited success. The 2021 “VOCA Fix” added deferred prosecution agreements as a revenue source but wasn’t enough to restore lost funding. Another temporary stabilization bill is pending in Congress.

Some organizations are reducing their dependence on federal grants due to concerns about potential restrictions. The YWCA in Yakima County, a region with a majority Hispanic population and high rates of domestic violence, declined to apply for a Violence Against Women Act grant it had previously received.

“We’ve chosen to serve our community and not accept that money,” said YWCA Yakima CEO Cheri Kilty. “We’re not going to turn anybody away because of their immigration status or however they self-identify.”

As service providers await the final state budget, they’re preparing for what another funding reduction would mean for their organizations and the survivors who depend on them.

“That whole crime victim services network is so interconnected. When you take away one, it’s not like anybody else is going to take it over,” said Paula Reed, executive director of Children’s Advocacy Centers of Washington. “At some point, there’s a breaking point. And I think that is where we are.”