ALBANY — Calls and texts to New York’s domestic violence hotline were often not connected to a person who could help, according to an audit released today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.
The audit also found problems with the translations of calls from non-English speakers seeking services from the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence.
“When a victim reaches out to the state’s domestic violence hotline, they expect someone to be on the other end to help. It can be a life-or-death situation, which is why these lapses are so troubling,” DiNapoli said in a statement.
“The Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence responded positively to the audit and acted on our recommendations, and it should continue shoring up critical programs and services so New Yorkers get the timely help they need.”
OPDV’s role is to advance public education and outreach, provide training and technical assistance, monitor data, report on programs and policies, and coordinate the state agencies that administer programs and services related to domestic and gender-based violence. This includes oversight of a confidential support hotline, managed by a private contractor.
OPDV also serves as chair of the Domestic Violence Advisory Council, oversees state agency implementation of requirements for gender-based violence policies and procedures, and publishes a gender-based violence data dashboard.
DiNapoli’s audit found significant issues that limited the hotline’s effectiveness.
A LACK OF RESPONSE AND POOR TRANSLATIONS
Auditors made 25 test calls and sent 20 text and 20 web-based messages between December 2024 to June 2025.
Of those, 20% of the calls were never connected to a representative. Of the text messages, 15% went unanswered and 30% took longer than 30 seconds to respond, as required by the contract between OPDV and the service provider.
A review of 60 days of call logs showed that of the 2,814 calls made to the hotline, 170 were not connected.
Proper translation was also a problem, according to the audit.
Auditors sent 12 texts and eight web-based messages in six languages other than English. Their review determined 25% of the messages were either mistranslated or not translated at all.
GAPS IN THE SYSTEM
The audit found DVAC, which brings together key state agencies and advocacy organizations, generally met twice a year, as required, but only four of the 17 members attended all meetings, with three attending less than half.
While these meetings facilitated information sharing and communication, DVAC did not meet its mandate to make domestic violence-related recommendations and did not help stakeholders develop policies and priorities for effective domestic violence intervention, public education or advocacy.
Auditors also found OPDV failed to establish a process to sufficiently ensure that recipients of Enough is Enough grants complied with contract requirements and achieved their objectives.
The grants are intended to assist colleges with sexual assault and dating violence prevention and response activities for students. OPDV officials stated they accepted the grant recipients’ reports at face value without verifying compliance.
OPDV also did not develop or implement senior center-based prevention programs as required.
While OPDV made progress in implementing several requirements related to state agency gender-based policies and procedures, it had approved gender-based violence policies for only 72 state entities as of May 2024, and only 76 entities had designated a domestic violence agency liaison when potentially hundreds more may be required to do so.
The audit also found OPDV could more effectively inform decision-making and policy development by improving the timeliness and consistency of data collected for its data dashboard, which serves as the state’s primary mechanism for reporting statewide domestic violence data.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The audit makes several recommendations, including:
— Develop or revise existing policies and procedures to include written guidance for following up on deficiencies identified during monitoring reviews.
— Ensure state entities comply with the state’s executive order requirements, including issuing an OPDV-approved, gender-based violence policy; designating and training a domestic violence agency liaison; and submitting required data to OPDV.
— Enhance oversight of grant recipients to provide assurance they are effectively meeting program objectives and contract deliverables.
— Develop and promote senior center-based domestic violence prevention programs that include documented program goals and establish ongoing evaluations of program effectiveness.
— Strengthen DVAC’s role in addressing domestic violence issues.
— Improve the timely issuance and consistency of data reported on the dashboard, including persistent follow-up with state entities that fail to submit necessary data.
In response to the audit, OPDV agreed with most of the recommendations and said they were taking steps to address the problems identified, including stronger oversight of grant recipients.
Read the full report at tinyurl.com/4fyc97wc.