Frequently Asked Questions

Victim compensation eligibility is determined by each state victim compensation program.

For additional information, visit the Victim Compensation section of our website.

The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) is not accepting applications for the Consultant Network at this time. Please contact the OVC TTAC Consultant Management Team by phone at 866-682-8822 (TTY: 866-682-8880) or email at TTAC@ovcttac.org if you have further questions.

The Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) specifically requires compensation to crime victims and survivors of criminal violence for certain expenses resulting from physical injury from a compensable crime as defined by the state.

VOCA places priority on violent crime, but it does not prohibit coverage of nonviolent crimes. States may choose to broaden the range of compensable crimes to include those involving threats of injury or economic crime where victims are traumatized but not physically injured. Please keep in mind that eligibility requirements are left up to the state.

Please contact your state victim compensation program to learn about eligibility requirements. 

The U.S. Department of State's Children's Passport Issuance Alert Program works to prevent international parental child abduction. The program allows parents to register their U.S. citizen children under the age of 18. If a passport application is submitted for that registered child, the U.S. Department of State will contact and alert the parent(s).

To learn more and to register a child, visit the Children's Passport Issuance Alert Program website.

Missing and exploited children statistics are available in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual NCIC Missing Person and Unidentified Person Statistics reports and in the Statistics section of the Office of Justice Program's Missing Children Special Feature.

For additional information about missing children, visit the Child and Youth Victimization section of our website and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website.

If you have not yet contacted law enforcement officials to report your missing child, please do so immediately. Ask them about the issuing an AMBER Alert.

Through the AMBER Alert system, law enforcement agencies and broadcasters activate an urgent bulletin in the most serious child abduction cases. Request that law enforcement put out a Be On the Look Out (BOLO) bulletin. Ask them about involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the search for your child.

Additional helpful information for families about what to do when a child is missing is available in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's When Your Child is Missing: A Family Survival Guide publication and Missing and Exploited Children page. You may also contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 800-843-5678 and view their Missing-Child, Emergency-Response, Quick-Reference Guide for Families.

Finally, visit the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) website. NamUs is a clearinghouse for missing persons and unidentified decedent records. This free online system can be searched by law enforcement officials, other allied professionals, and the general public to solve these cases.

The rules on victim impact statements and victims' rights can vary from state to state. Visit the VictimLaw and National Crime Victim Law Institute websites for information.

You may also visit a state, county, or local law library for legal research assistance.

Additional research assistance may be obtained through the Ask a Law Librarian page on the Library of Congress website.

Family members of homicide victims can find support groups in their area by contacting the National Organization of Parents Of Murdered Children and The Compassionate Friends.

For additional information, visit the Homicide Victims/Co-Survivors Topic page on our website.

Contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline by calling 888-373-7888 (toll free), texting BeFree (233733), or using the Human Trafficking Hotline Web Chat to report a tip; connect with anti-trafficking services in your area; or request training and technical assistance, general information, or specific anti-trafficking resources.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline is available to answer calls and texts from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year. It is operated and implemented by Polaris Project and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) defines dating violence as violence committed by a person who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim; and where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors—

• the length of the relationship,
• the type of relationship, and
• the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.

For additional information, visit the Intimate Partner Violence section of our site.