(Boston Herald) – A scathing report by the state auditor found that the Department of Veterans’ Services had only been able to identify a tiny fraction of women veterans eligible for services.
“In this performance audit, we determined whether DVS had a process in place to ensure that its Women Veterans’ Network (WVN) effectively achieved its purpose of identifying women veterans and informing them about their potential eligibility for benefits they may have earned through their service. In addition, we determined whether DVS had established an advisory committee on women veterans,” Auditor Suzanne Bump’s report reads.
As to the effectiveness of the WVN, Bump found “DVS did not ensure that its WVN achieved its intended purpose.”
“The Women Veterans’ Network had only identified approximately 6% of the approximately 25,000 women veterans living in Massachusetts,” Bump’s office said when releasing the report.
Bump also found the department fell short on its advisory committee, failing to even appoint enough members to meet the statutory requirement of an 11-person body.
“DVS responded to our audit findings by pointing to specific instances of agency support for women veterans,” Bump said in a release. “Isolated events however do not make up for the lack of overall strategic planning, policy development, and performance monitoring.”
Bump said, “Our audit found that the WVN did not have adequate documentation to substantiate that it was conducting a number of important activities related to advocacy, support services and outreach for women veterans and their families. We doubt, based on the data and other material provided, that most women veterans are aware of all the resources available to them through DVS. This is unacceptable.”
According to DVS, they are aware of the shortcomings identified by the auditor and are working to address them.
“DVS continues to make progress to increase the capacity of its Women Veterans’ Network in fulfilling its mission (of) serving as a resource to support women veterans in Massachusetts through education and outreach,” a spokesperson told the Herald. “The Women Veterans’ Network continues to identify and reach out to more women veterans.”
The chair of the Senate’s Veterans Committee said more funding is needed to support resolution of the audit’s findings.
“The audit makes it abundantly clear that women veterans in Massachusetts are not getting the resources and services that they need, and that is a huge problem,” state Sen. John Velis said in a release. “Women are our fastest growing demographic of veterans, and it is our duty as a Commonwealth to ensure that we are doing everything we can to identify women veterans and meet their needs.”