Last week Safe Haven held their annual Blueming for Prevention awareness event to bring attention to child abuse in Bulloch County.
Safe Haven is a program of Citizens Against Violence, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to ending the cycle of family violence through prevention and education programs.
Speakers at the event included:
- Kim Billings, Safe Haven, Legal Services and Public Relations Director
- Tami Davis, Safe Haven, Executive Director
- Donald Chavers, Agape Worship Center
- Sergeant Jennifer Strosnider, Statesboro Police Department and Safe Haven Board Member
- Amanda Clemments, KSBB
- Lora Cooper, Prevent Child Abuse
- Chief Mike Broadhead, Statesboro Police Department
- Catherine Findley, Bulloch County State Court
- Judge Joseph Cushner, Bulloch County State Court
- Investigator Pre Cone, Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office
- Kristen Kramer, CASA
- Lily Gray, Teal House
- Shelley Stringer, Statesboro Exchange Club
Video of the entire event:
Domestic Violence and Children
- There are more children, by far, in domestic violence shelters than adults/parents.
- Experiencing childhood domestic violence can rewire a child’s brain, encoding negative beliefs that can last into adulthood if left unchallenged.
- Witnessing domestic violence can cause a regression in developmental milestones, and often children feel responsible for the violence.
- Children can also begin taking on the attitudes of the perpetrator due to the child wanting to model the behavior.
- Nationally, 15.5 million children witness domestic violence at least once in that past year.
- In a recent US Department of Juvenile Justice and CDC study of 4,549 children, 27 %children aged 14 to 17 reported that they had been exposed to DV in their lifetimes.
- Children in homes in which violence has occurred were 9X more likely to verbally or physically intervene in parental conflicts than comparison children from homes in no violence occurred.
- More young children appear to be present during domestic violence incidents than older children (especially 0 to 5 years olds).
- In Bulloch County (from 2013-2017, children were in involved in 18.8% of FV incidents and 34.4% of incidents there was a child present. As someone that has worked with survivors of domestic violence for almost 20 years, I believe this number to be much higher)
Impact on Victims
- Sleeplessness, Depression, Anxiety, Problems at work or school,
- Forced to change jobs or school, Forced to move, Forced to rearranged or cancel activities & social events, truancy, new generations of family violence, teen pregnancy, substance abuse, addictions, etc.
