The Administration for Children and Families published a final rule in the Federal Register today, August 3, that removes six sections of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act regulations. One of them is the section requiring the National Domestic Violence Hotline to have a plan for serving callers with disabilities. The rule, "Reducing Bureaucracy and Burden in Family Violence and Prevention Services," takes effect October 2, 2026.

Which Sections Come Out of the Code

The two removals from 45 CFR part 1370 that reach disability families are the specialized services for abused parents and their children at 1370.31, and the National Domestic Violence Hotline grant requirements at 1370.32. The other four sections cover program purposes, the government-wide and HHS-wide regulations that apply, reporting and evaluation, and the national resource center and training grants.

Section 1370.32 defined "telephone" to include text, chat, video, internet-based platforms and other communication methods, and it required hotline grant applicants to submit plans for serving callers with limited English proficiency and callers with disabilities. Section 1370.31 set the terms for specialized services for abused parents and their children, covering confidentiality, developmentally appropriate and culturally and linguistically appropriate services, training for professionals who work with children, and avoiding unnecessary referrals to child protective services.

ACF gives the same reason for each removal, calling the sections "in part duplicative of statutory language and in part unnecessary."

What Commenters Raised and How ACF Answered

HHS received 60 comments during the 30-day window, 56 posted to regulations.gov and 4 sent by email. The preamble discloses that the agency "used a large language model, a type of artificial intelligence (AI), as a tool to conduct an initial scan of comment content, sentiment, and language."

On the hotline section, the rule records that "several commenters emphasized that the regulation should continue to signal the importance of access for Limited English Proficient callers and callers with disabilities, including callers who are deaf or hard of hearing." ACF's answer is one sentence: "Removing Sec. 1370.32 from regulation will not impact the ability of Limited English Proficient callers or callers with disabilities to access National Domestic Violence Hotlines."

Commenters also asked to keep the broad definition of "telephone" so the hotline authority tracks the way people reach out now, through text and video rather than a voice call that may not be safe to make. ACF responded that "technology has sufficiently evolved to support including the definition from Sec. 1370.32(b) in NOFOs and sub-regulatory guidance without significant concern." A NOFO is the annual grant announcement applicants read before they apply.

On the children's services section, commenters representing Tribal communities pointed to "a history of higher rates of forced removal of children from their homes" as the reason the child protective services language belonged in regulation. ACF disagreed, writing that the requirements can move to grant notices "without impacting program effectiveness."

What Still Binds the Hotline

The underlying statute is unchanged. 42 U.S.C. 10413 requires a hotline applicant to submit "a plan for facilitating access to the hotline by persons with hearing impairments" at subsection (d)(2)(F), and it requires the grantee to "provide assistance and referrals to meet the needs of underserved populations and individuals with disabilities" at subsection (e)(2)(E). A parallel provision at (e)(2)(F) covers youth victims and minors experiencing dating violence.

45 CFR 1370.5, the FVPSA nondiscrimination rule, also survives and bars discrimination against individuals with limited English proficiency and individuals with disabilities.

Starting October 2, the specifics a family or an advocate would cite live in a grant notice HHS rewrites each year rather than in a standing rule.

The Access Gap the GAO Already Documented

In a September 2024 report, the Government Accountability Office found that the reported rate of domestic violence against people with disabilities ran about five times the rate for people without disabilities from 2017 through 2022.

Local centers told the GAO they struggle with "identifying local disability groups for outreach, finding interpreters for Deaf survivors, and having limited knowledge of how to work with survivors with disabilities." The report also found that HHS "has not asked specifically about services for people with disabilities" when it collects service data from grantees, and it recommended the department build a process to check whether its accessibility technical assistance reaches local centers.

This is the second HHS deregulatory rule in four days to move a family protection into other instruments. On July 31 the department removed the federal fair hearing rule for public assistance programs, effective September 29.

What Families Can Do Now

• Save the accessible ways to reach help now. The National Domestic Violence Hotline answers at 800-799-7233, by TTY at 800-787-3224, by text to 88788 with the word START, and by chat on its website. The Deaf Hotline, run by Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services, answers videophone calls at 206-812-1001 and email at nationaldeafhotline@adwas.org, with Deaf advocates on duty around the clock.
• Ask your local FVPSA-funded program what it provides before a crisis, including sign language interpreters, accessible entrances and rooms, and staff trained to work with a child who uses a communication device or ASL. The answer now depends on that year's grant notice.
• Keep the citations that still carry legal weight: 42 U.S.C. 10413 for hotline access, and 45 CFR 1370.5 for nondiscrimination by any FVPSA-funded program.

The full text of the rule, including ACF's response to every comment, is posted on the Federal Register site at 91 FR 48775.