The Forgotten Ones: The Vets Who Wander Still, Veterans Day 2007

November 10th, 2007
By DR. CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTÉS, Assistant Editor, TMV Columnist

Homeless Women Veterans

Excerpt from the statement of Vietnam Veterans of America submitted by Marsha Tansey Four, RN, Chair, Women Veterans Committee before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Committee on Veterans Affairs.

“Approximately 3 to 4% of the 275,00 homeless veterans across this county are women. Homeless women veterans present different needs with reference to privacy, gender related care, treatment for physical and sexual trauma, and care for dependent children. Due to these compounding issues very few programs are available to serve and appropriately meet the needs of this particular homeless population.

This deficiency in available programs was recognized by Congress, when in FY2000, approximately $2.3 million dollars of the additional $50 million of those funds allocated to VA Homeless Programs were designated and fenced for homeless women veteran projects. Ten Homeless Women Veteran Projects have been selected.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Policy Board determined that this money for homeless women veterans programs would be available and protected, only for FY2000, despite the numerous requests of clinicians and VSO’s for a reconsideration of this policy. This places the continuance of these high visibility and desperately needed programs in a rather tenuous position. Their very existence is reliant upon a decision made at the VISN level without guarded assurance of continued funding. There is no promise that funding for this type of program will be committed in the future.

Sadly, needed women veteran specific, homeless programs may never see the light of day because continued funding is in jeopardy. Special Needs Programs take time to develop and thrive. This time is vital in the acquisition of outcome data that will be used to further justify their future existence.

Congress needs to protect money allocated for specific veteran programs. It seems necessary to extend by legislation, the time frame for the protected money of special need programs to three years. Without this extension, an injustice is done to the special program developers, the veterans that are served, and to Congress, whose intention was to make special care and treatment a reality. Without protecting the allocated and appropriated funding for three years, the future of all special needs programs are in jeopardy as displayed in the Policy Board decision of the homeless women veteran projects. Ask congress to consider this issue and bring stability and security to special veteran programs by initiating legislation to resolve this dilemma.”

The numbers of homelless female veterans have increased, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. The numbers of female veterans on the streets currently appears to be domwhere between 10,000 and 15,000.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 2:49 am and is filed under Vietnam War, Women, World War II, Iraq. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Trackbacks

blog comments powered by Disqus

« Veterans Day 2007

Veterans Day 2007: Our Brothers and Sisters On the Job »

By posting comments on The Moderate Voice you are acknowledging and agreeing to the following general comments policy:

(1) The Moderate Voice's comments are hosted by Disqus (http://disqus.com). If your comment doesn't appear immediately, please be patient since it is an off-site system.

(2) All e-mail received from readers by The Moderate Voice is considered intended for publication unless otherwise indicated in the initial message from the writer. Please do not send us attachments unless you contact us and we agree to it.

(3)The Moderate Voice reserves the right to edit all e-mail and posted comments for content, clarity, and length.

(4) Our comment space is reserved for comments that relate to a post's topic. You should not reprint lengthy text from your own works or those of others, including news articles. You MAY link to them.

(5) Comments that are abusive, offensive, contain profane or racist material or violate the terms of service for this blog's host provider will be removed and the author(s) banned from future comments. Such comments also violate the very SPIRIT of this site -- which was created to encourage thoughtful and vigorous discussion among readers who may share differing viewpoints.

(6) All points of view are welcome on The Moderate Voice, with the following exceptions:

(a) Comments posted several times a day with the intent of dominating, re-directing or hijacking the thread by turning a discussion into the equivalent of a bitter shouting match.

(b) Comments posted several times a day that insult or call other commenters or blog writers names or repeatedly make the same point with the effect of or clear intent to annoy other commenters or blog writers.

(7) Name-calling, personal attacks, racist comments or use of profanity by any commenter, whether they are by persons who agree or disagree with the views expressed by The Moderate Voice will NOT be tolerated and will result in the deletion of the comment and the banning of the commenter's ISP address, without notice. In some cases a comment may be deleted and the writer will be given another chance. Commenters who virtually ASK The Moderate Voice to ban them by ignoring any warnings or daring TMV to ban them will quickly get their wish.

(8) Anonymous commenters should identify themselves with the same moniker, so readers know their comments are coming from a single individual. If they don't, they are subject to a banning.

(9)If we have problems with inappropriate or inflammatory comments from a commenter who it turns out gave a fake email address that person is subject to immediate banning.

(10) Quotes from material appearing on The Moderate Voice with attribution are allowed. Reprints are allowed only by permission from The Moderate Voice. You may request permission by e-mail.

(11) The Moderate Voice is a personal site. It is not the Government. It is NOT aligned with any political party. It is NOT promoting any specific candidate for office. It is not a public institution or a media organization. It is not a neutral site. It is intended to express and disseminate the authors' varying points of views. Writers on this weblog WILL take positions. It reserves the right to limit comments to those that, in its view, comport with its stated comment policy. Comments that do not comply are subject to deletion and banning of the author's ISP.

Disclaimer:

--Reading and posting comments at The Moderate Voice constitutes acknowledgment of and agreement to the terms outlined in this comment policy. This comment policy may be revised in part or in full at any time.

--All comments must comport with applicable state and federal laws. The Moderate Voice has no obigation to monitor, edit, censor, or take responsibility for comments. It may or may not act upon a violation of its comment policy once a suspected violation has been brought to its attention. Therefore, commenters are solely responsible for the content of their comments and should ensure that that their comments are lawful and fall within the stated guidelines of both The Moderate Voice and its hosting company.

--The Moderate Voice is not be responsible for injury or liability to any reader or commenter resulting from its own communications or those of commenters, that may be offensive, misleading, inaccurate, illegal, or otherwise unsuitable in the view of the reader. Readers and commenters further agree to indemnify and hold harmless The Moderate Voice from claims resulting from the use of any material appearing on The Moderate Voice which damages the reader, commenter or any other party.

--The Moderate Voice is not responsible for and might disagree with material posted in the comments section. While we strive for accuracy in our posts and DO correct errors, material posted by The Moderate Voice in its posts -- or those left by others in the comments section -- may or may not be accurate.

Read and Post at your own risk.