Post by lace on Nov 8, 2006 10:46:28 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]Domestic violence high in area [/glow]
Posted: Monday, Nov 06, 2006 - 11:38:30 am CST
By Rasmieyh Abdelnabi
Daily News staff writer
[glow=red,2,300]One out of four women injured in their lifetime [/glow]
[glow=red,2,300]Domestic violence is the largest cause of injury to women in the United States, officials say. [/glow]
According to the Beloit Domestic Violence Center, this is more than mugging, car accidents and rape.
In 2005, the Beloit Police Department had 416 domestic violence calls. So far this year there have been 379.
According to the Wisconsin Coalition against Domestic Violence, 28 people died because of domestic violence related incidents.
There were 28,293 incidents of domestic abuse reported in Wisconsin last year.
One in every four women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime, according to a study by the National Coalition against Domestic Violence.
As domestic abuse continues, so does the growth of women's shelters. Beloit's own shelter began in the 1980s by the YWCA with a 24-hour hotline for victims to call and safe houses for women to go to.
However, in the early 1990s, the YWCA found it could not adequately fund the shelter so the Salvation Army took over. But once again, due to financial difficulties, Family Services of South Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, Inc. took over the shelter in 2003.
Currently, there are seven women and eight children staying at the shelter. This year, the shelter housed 51 women and 67 children. Last year the shelter was home to 59 women and 72 children.
Over the years, organizers began to develop more programming and services turning the once hotline into the Beloit Domestic Violence Center.
The center offers a 24-hour hotline, 866-SAFE-018. There is emergency shelter for victims and their children. Legal advocates are available for the preparation and filing of restraining orders. There is also counseling and support groups. The center also had children's services as children are also victims.
Women can stay in emergency housing for up to 45 days.
There is also transitional living quarters for women for up to 18 months. This housing is for women who have decided to leave their abusive homes and relationships, but need a little help before becoming completely independent.
The center's director, Corita Forster explained women who use the shelter are basically homeless.
“They are victims of crime. Domestic violence is a crime. We are serving victims of the crime of domestic violence,” she emphasized.
While, there is housing for women and minor children, at this time men cannot housed due to communal living style of the shelter. However, battered men are offered services and given hotel vouchers.
The center receives state and federal funding through grants, donations from churches and private individuals.
“We look for funding to keep us going,” Forster said.
The center helps victims with very basic living arrangements, she said. The center's staff helps people find a safe place to live. Through its programming, the center helps victims during the recovery process. They are encouraged to be independent and notice the red flags in future relationships.
Women who stay in violent relationships, do it because they have no choice, Forster said.
It could be because they cannot care for themselves or it could be they have such low self-esteem and believe they don't deserve better, she explained.
Some may have grown up in abusive homes, so the pain inflicted on them is normal in their world.
“It's not that they want to be hit and abused,” Forster said. “But it's what they grew up with and that's what they know.”
As for the abuser, he or she too needs help with self-esteem.
“There is a dynamic in the abusive personality that a person feels some lack within themselves so being able to exercise their power and control over another person makes them feel bigger and better by putting the other person down,” Forster said. “By putting the other person down physically, verbally, mentally, emotionally, sexually, financially, that person keeps control of these things so that they feel more power.”
Even though it effects so many people, domestic violence is not taken as seriously as it should because people don't talk about, Forster said.
It's considered a private matter between couples.
However speaking about domestic violence and addressing it's causes are forms of prevention, Forster explained.
[glow=red,2,300]“It's a crime of violence perpetrated by a human being on another,” she said. [/glow]
Posted: Monday, Nov 06, 2006 - 11:38:30 am CST
By Rasmieyh Abdelnabi
Daily News staff writer
[glow=red,2,300]One out of four women injured in their lifetime [/glow]
[glow=red,2,300]Domestic violence is the largest cause of injury to women in the United States, officials say. [/glow]
According to the Beloit Domestic Violence Center, this is more than mugging, car accidents and rape.
In 2005, the Beloit Police Department had 416 domestic violence calls. So far this year there have been 379.
According to the Wisconsin Coalition against Domestic Violence, 28 people died because of domestic violence related incidents.
There were 28,293 incidents of domestic abuse reported in Wisconsin last year.
One in every four women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime, according to a study by the National Coalition against Domestic Violence.
As domestic abuse continues, so does the growth of women's shelters. Beloit's own shelter began in the 1980s by the YWCA with a 24-hour hotline for victims to call and safe houses for women to go to.
However, in the early 1990s, the YWCA found it could not adequately fund the shelter so the Salvation Army took over. But once again, due to financial difficulties, Family Services of South Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, Inc. took over the shelter in 2003.
Currently, there are seven women and eight children staying at the shelter. This year, the shelter housed 51 women and 67 children. Last year the shelter was home to 59 women and 72 children.
Over the years, organizers began to develop more programming and services turning the once hotline into the Beloit Domestic Violence Center.
The center offers a 24-hour hotline, 866-SAFE-018. There is emergency shelter for victims and their children. Legal advocates are available for the preparation and filing of restraining orders. There is also counseling and support groups. The center also had children's services as children are also victims.
Women can stay in emergency housing for up to 45 days.
There is also transitional living quarters for women for up to 18 months. This housing is for women who have decided to leave their abusive homes and relationships, but need a little help before becoming completely independent.
The center's director, Corita Forster explained women who use the shelter are basically homeless.
“They are victims of crime. Domestic violence is a crime. We are serving victims of the crime of domestic violence,” she emphasized.
While, there is housing for women and minor children, at this time men cannot housed due to communal living style of the shelter. However, battered men are offered services and given hotel vouchers.
The center receives state and federal funding through grants, donations from churches and private individuals.
“We look for funding to keep us going,” Forster said.
The center helps victims with very basic living arrangements, she said. The center's staff helps people find a safe place to live. Through its programming, the center helps victims during the recovery process. They are encouraged to be independent and notice the red flags in future relationships.
Women who stay in violent relationships, do it because they have no choice, Forster said.
It could be because they cannot care for themselves or it could be they have such low self-esteem and believe they don't deserve better, she explained.
Some may have grown up in abusive homes, so the pain inflicted on them is normal in their world.
“It's not that they want to be hit and abused,” Forster said. “But it's what they grew up with and that's what they know.”
As for the abuser, he or she too needs help with self-esteem.
“There is a dynamic in the abusive personality that a person feels some lack within themselves so being able to exercise their power and control over another person makes them feel bigger and better by putting the other person down,” Forster said. “By putting the other person down physically, verbally, mentally, emotionally, sexually, financially, that person keeps control of these things so that they feel more power.”
Even though it effects so many people, domestic violence is not taken as seriously as it should because people don't talk about, Forster said.
It's considered a private matter between couples.
However speaking about domestic violence and addressing it's causes are forms of prevention, Forster explained.
[glow=red,2,300]“It's a crime of violence perpetrated by a human being on another,” she said. [/glow]