Coronavirus has crippled efforts to stop domestic violence, especially in one key area
While many Americans are struggling with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, many more are facing the cascade of unintended consequences brought about by our public policy response.
Untold numbers have suffered under economic and emotional stress caused by a shuttered economy and government-imposed social isolation.
In some cases, measures taken to save lives have cost them — a reality starkly apparent in the sharp and disturbing increase in domestic-violence homicides this year.
In Tarrant County, 2020 is the worst year on record for intimate partner violence.
Safe Haven, a local nonprofit that focuses on domestic violence support and prevention, reports 18 intimate partner-related homicides since stay-at-home orders went into effect this year.
For context, that’s more than double the total number of domestic violence homicides in all of 2019 (eight).
And the year, and the pandemic, are far from over.
Domestic violence hotlines and local police have also experienced a dramatic rise in calls about abuse, an increase that has remained steady since the virus hit. It’s a kind of “pandemic within the pandemic.”
Those statistics are devastating, but they are consistent with national trends, which suggest that statewide lockdowns and limits on social interactions have created a dangerous environment for domestic violence victims.
Not only has the pandemic exacerbated stress and other conditions that can lead to abuse, it has increased the hurdles for people seeking help.
The organizations trying to provide care and protection are encountering all sorts of new challenges that are thwarting their progress, from mitigating viral spread in crowded shelters to being forced to dramatically retool programs designed to prevent abuse from happening in the first place.
Eric May, director of the prevention services department at Safe Haven, feels this frustration deeply.
For the last 11 years, he has managed a highly successful education and prevention program that has become integral to the group’s work.
“We know what’s effective and what works,” he told me. Safe Haven’s efforts are proof of that.
Using evidence-based curricula and strategies that provide universal education as well as targeted counseling and training to high-risk populations, his team of social workers have made great strides in teaching local youth how to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy relationships — knowledge that can prevent people from becoming abusers or victims.
Most of this work has been done in public schools. As May explained, youth attitudes about dating violence don’t change overnight; research shows that it takes at least seven sessions before any notable change can be detected. And schools provide a reliable avenue to at-risk students and a captive audience.
Relationships are critical, too. Students need to trust counselors; counselors need regular contact with students.
So when schools closed in the spring, much of Safe Haven’s prevention work effectively did, too.
And while many schools have re-opened this fall for in-person learning, hybrid models, the large percentage of students remaining virtual and the limitations on “non-essential” personnel entering school facilities has continued to impede their work.
“We have literally served almost no students since March,” he said.
That hasn’t stopped his team from trying.
Safe Haven has hired a new staff member who specializes in distance learning, and like much of the world, they’ve tried to make training and counseling, which are subject to all kinds of privacy concerns, fit inside a virtual environment.
School districts have been helpful, May said. But “we’re back at year one in many ways, building relationships again,” he added.
And if schools close again, as some argue they should, their efforts at domestic abuse prevention will be further stymied.
Safe Haven’s predicament isn’t unusual during these strange times, but it’s another reminder that pandemic policies such as school closures and lockdowns have consequences and victims, too.
During the month devoted to increasing awareness about domestic abuse, that’s worth remembering.
Call 1-877-701-SAFE (7233) for Safe Haven’s free and confidential 24-hour hotline
This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 5:04 AM.
