Victims of violence

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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On July 1, the Iowa Attorney General's Office launched a transition to a regionally based system of providing domestic violence and abuse services. It's a mandate approved by state legislators, aimed at consolidating services and challenging provider agencies to become more efficient and more collaborative in order to better serve more clients.

It's also a response to an 18 percent cut in federal funding and 7 percent decline in state money since fiscal year 2009-10. Meanwhile, the number of clients continues to increase statewide.

In other words, this is clearly a plan to do more with less.

Its success is important in combating this insidious problem. But can it work?

Area agency officials are guardedly optimistic. They see potential benefits, but the transition will take several months and there are serious challenges ahead, including the likelihood of fewer shelters.

“It's changing the way we all do business,” said Jaye Kennedy, chief executive officer at Waypoint Services for Women, Children and Families in Cedar Rapids.

In each region, agencies have competitively bid for state-administered grants to be the hub for one of three basic service areas: domestic violence, sexual assault and shelter.

Waypoint will be oversee domestic violence services for a seven-county region, while Riverview Center in Dubuque - which also has been serving some Illinois counties - will handle sexual assault programs in the region, and Cedar Valley Friends of the Family, based in Waverly, will coordinate shelter services.

To our south, in another of the six regions, the Domestic Violence Intervention Program of Iowa City will add five counties to the four it has previously served. It will handle both domestic abuse and shelter-based services.

These changes don't necessarily mean, for example, that a Cedar Rapids woman seeking safe shelter from a dangerous situation at home must travel to Waverly. Instead, the lead agencies will collaborate on the needs and what's available.

SPECIALIZATION

This plan's biggest benefit is that it “allows agencies to specialize more,” instead of each agency trying to provide and coordinate all three areas of services, Kennedy said. Its efficiencies will include fewer staffed brick and mortar offices, with more use of mobile systems that take services “to where the client is.”

Regarding shelters, which provide a temporary safe haven for women and children: The cost to house a person is about three times what it costs to provide outreach services. A pilot program at Waypoint, which ended its traditional shelter program in 2008, resulted in a 250 percent increase in the number of victims served.

Nationwide, since the 1970s, shelters have been regarded as the best protection for battered women and their children. However, they also can be disruptive and sometimes counterproductive, a report in the July 22 New Yorker found. Staying in a shelter might require quitting a job, removing children from school or being unable to care for elderly parents.

Shelters have saved lives, but the burden of change falls on the victim, not the perpetrator, according to Kelly Dunne, CEO of the Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center near Boston. In 2005, she created a team system to identify high-risk domestic violence situations and stop domestic violence homicide before it happens. Last fall, her agency received a federal grant to develop a model that communities around the country could use.

THE NUMBERS

Domestic violence remains a major problem. Nationwide, one in four women is a victim of domestic physical violence sometime during her life. Between 2000 and 2006, when about 3,200 U.S. soldiers were killed on duty, more than 10,000 domestic homicides were reported, according to FBI statistics.

In Iowa, there were 22,500 reported domestic violence cases in 2008. That increased to more than 24,000 in 2010 and continues to rise.

Kennedy and Josh Jasper, CEO of Riverview Center, say that cases their agencies handle have approached 2,000 annually in recent years, in part because of greater awareness of available services and willingness to use them. But the number of victims also is up and they believe many are not reported.

“We're probably serving only the tip of the iceberg,” Jasper said.

DIFFERENT WORLD

Why the increase?

“There are a lot of pressures in society today ... economic, and peer pressure,” Kennedy said. “Yes, there are cultural changes, of course, and there are different cultures coming into our communities.”

Jasper also pointed to the effects of the entertainment media and communications technology on our society. “We're inundated with sexual violence and other violence portrayed on TV and in videos. We've become desensitized.

“It's a whole different world. Bullying among young people goes on 24-7 with texting and social media. And it's across all socio-economic levels.”

Local agencies are trying to ramp up prevention efforts with their education programs. They especially want to reach out to young adults and college students, given that more than one-third of victims in recent years are between ages 16-25. They promote everyone learning to be an “active bystander” - willing to challenge abusive behavior and speech.

“We don't have enough people speaking out, especially men,” Jasper said.

Certainly, more state and federal funding for these agencies could help expand the education and prevention efforts, as well as the basic services.

But just as important is local community support. These agencies need more volunteers willing to be trained as advocates who can assist the programs. And private financial donations are becoming a bigger piece of the budget pie. Up to 20 percent of the agency budgets come through fundraising.

At the very least, all of us need to acknowledge the seriousness of this issue. We can become better informed about recognizing domestic violence and sexual assault. Become an active bystander, speak out.

Don't let this dangerous societal trend spin out of control.

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