CONTENTS-
- Message From the Director
- About the Standards
- Executive Summary
- Acknowledgements
- Purpose & Scope of the Standards
- How To Use the Standards
- Working Definition & Mission Statement
- Guiding Values for Serving Victims & Survivors of Crime
- Program Standards
- Section I: Scope of Services
- Section II: Coordinating Within the Community
- Section III: Direct Services
- Section IV: Privacy, Confidentiality, Data Security, and Assistive Technology
- Section V: Administration and Evaluation
- Competency Standards
- Section I: Scope of Services
- Section II: Coordinating Within the Community
- Section III: Direct Services
- Section IV: Privacy, Confidentiality, Data Security, and Assistive Technology
- Section V: Administration and Evaluation
- Ethical Standards
- Section I: Scope of Services
- Section II: Coordinating Within the Community
- Section III: Direct Services
- Section IV: Privacy, Confidentiality, Data Security, and Assistive Technology
- Section V: Administration and Evaluation
- Glossary
- Related Resources
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COMPETENCY STANDARDS
Section 1: Scope of Services
COMPETENCY STANDARD 1.1: The victim assistance provider adheres to legal, ethical, and behavioral standards of conduct in the helping relationship.
Elements include the ability to:
- Describe major laws or regulations related to one's own provision of services.
- Describe basic legal, ethical, and behavioral standards related to one's own provision of services.
- Value the need to comply with regulatory and professional expectations, including those for conduct and ethical decisionmaking.
- Apply strategies for organizing one's workload and case handling to meet assigned responsibilities.
- Respect the boundaries of the victim assistance provider's role, including knowing the difference between one's personal feelings and professional responses; maintaining separation of personal relationships and relationships with clients; and promoting victim/survivor empowerment, rather than "rescuing" them.
- Describe, in lay terms, capabilities and limitations of the victim assistance provider's role for crime victims/survivors (as these are relevant to persons served).
COMPETENCY STANDARD 1.2: The victim assistance provider describes the overall services of the victim assistance system in the geographic area served.
Elements include the ability to:
- Describe the purposes, goals, and interdependence of major programs serving victims/survivors.
- Understand the basic practical implications of the statutory rights of victims, including the general parameters of each program's service.
- Value the need to provide accurate, thorough, and unbiased information on available services.
VictimLaw, an OVC-funded database, provides access to victims' rights statutes, tribal laws, constitutional amendments, court rules, administrative code provisions, and case summaries of related court decisions.
COMPETENCY STANDARD 1.3: The victim assistance provider describes the community's justice systems and their relation to public and private victim service programs.
Elements include the ability to:
- Describe, in general terms, the justice systems that serve individuals in the geographic area served by the program (e.g., city, state, tribal, and federal systems for criminal, civil, juvenile, family, and military justice).
- Describe, in practical detail, the structure and parts of the justice systems most closely associated with one's own services (e.g., important procedures or places).
- Describe the key victim-related parts of criminal and civil codes and juvenile laws most closely associated with one's own services.
- Describe the value and limitations of victim participation in the different justice systems and the potential results of each.
- Recognize the significance of different phases of justice processing, from crime reporting through investigation, trial, re-entry, parole, and aftercare.
- Recognize the roles that government, nonprofit, and private programs and organizations play in the justice process (e.g., victim assistance, advocacy, and restorative justice).
COMPETENCY STANDARD 1.4: The victim assistance provider describes other service systems that impact victims/survivors in the geographic area served.
Elements include the ability to:
- Describe key government and community-based programs that provide financial assistance to individuals and families (e.g., compensation programs, aid to needy families, emergency funds).
- Describe key government and community-based programs that provide employment services to individuals.
- Describe key programs that provide health care services to individuals and families (e.g., hospitals, clinics, dentists).
- Describe key programs that provide shelter and housing to individuals and families (e.g., homeless shelters, housing authority).
- Describe key programs that address the social welfare of children, families, and older individuals (e.g., social services, child protective services, adult protective services, guardians ad litem, mental health services).
- Describe key programs that address legal services (e.g., for domestic violence and sexual assault, family law, immigration, housing law, public benefits access, discrimination).
- Recognize the significance that financial, medical, housing, mental health, faith-based, and social services programs can have in victim/survivor resilience and risk reduction.
COMPETENCY STANDARD 1.5: The victim assistance provider describes the purpose of his/her program and its place within the justice and service systems of the community.
Elements include the ability to:
- Understand the organizational structure of the program and its relationship to any overarching boards and agencies.
- Understand basic program policies and procedures.
- Describe the relationships between the program and victims/survivors, the justice system, and other human services programs.
- Describe, in lay terms, the program's services, and the procedures for accessing them.
