SD Union Tribune Editorial: Breaking the Cycle
August 17, 2008
Attitudes and the law about domestic violence have changed dramatically in the past 20 years.
Officers no longer have the option of whether they respond, whether they intervene at all in someone beating up their partner, or whether they want to bother with filing a written report. California law now requires responding officers to file written reports, arrest the batterer in certain circumstances, legally remove deadly weapons from tension-charged households and provide victims with information about emergency restraining orders and services available.
Vast improvements have been made, but responses still vary widely among jurisdictions.
San Diego County has been a leader in the movement to prevent deadly abuse. Casey Gwinn, while San Diego city attorney, pioneered the concept of a family justice center, bringing various agencies into one building, improving lines of communication and creating a one-stop center for victims. The concept has been replicated two dozen times nationally. An East County center, built on the downtown San Diego model, is headed toward a formal opening in September. But different regions have different needs, and other models are evolving. The response model in Chula Vista, in our view, has many advantages and deserves to be examined by any sub-region creating its own system. Whatever the approach, the goal is the same – break the cycle of domestic violence that takes or ruins lives, splits families and imposes huge financial burdens on society. The downtown San Diego model of a family justice center brings resources together in a building. The Chula Vista model brings them together in one person, a victim's advocate. One system tries to get people to a building, between 8 and 4. The other does house calls, 24/7. Calls concerning a woman (78 percent of the victims) being battered in front of small children don't come at convenient times, but at drinking hours – midnight, 2 a.m., Mother's Day, Super Bowl Sunday and especially New Year's Eve. The heart of the Chula Vista system is South Bay Community Services, a social services agency that supplies many resources itself and makes referrals to others. By day, the agency's trained social workers sit at police headquarters under the direction of Jeff Larsen, a licensed marriage and family therapist. Chula Vista police, coordinated by Sgt. Juan Cervantes, notify the domestic violence response team of every disturbance call. Within 15 minutes of the situation being stabilized, a victim's advocate arrives. By night, a trained moonlighting team is on call to respond, then pass the information to the day team. The day team follows up at every step of the getting help/getting justice process, 120 to 150 cases a month, 2,000 families assisted every year. There's much we like about the Chula Vista model, also in place to a lesser extent in National City, south San Diego and Imperial Beach. The victim has a trained professional present almost immediately. One person, not a bureaucracy. The system has more than 28 entry points – police stations, schools, emergency rooms, aid centers – established to get victims into a network of help. Also under South Bay Community Services' umbrella in its coordinated approach are shelters, facilities that don't believe in breaking up the family if, say, there's a boy over 12. The agency operates at no cost to parents an extended-hours preschool that allows a single parent to gain a job, and helps scarred toddlers acquire skills necessary to enter kindergarten, without, everyone hopes, having to first go into special education.
From minutes after the initial call to a potential trial and beyond, it is up to the social worker or victim's advocate.
Abuse victims, whether battered, bloodied and being treated at the emergency room or who have frantically called 911 in fear for their lives, are in a situation comparable to those entering a witness protection program.
Home no longer is safe. They need to go into hiding, in a place the abuser does not know about. The kids should be yanked from school or else they can be stalked. Friends or neighbors may be off-limits unless the contact is by phone or at a neutral site.
Chula Vista has a model of family violence response that is a pace-setter, a system that does house calls 24/7 and provides immediate aid under the umbrella of South Bay Community Services. The social worker is introduced to someone who may have nothing. Nothing save the clothes she and the kids were wearing when they fled. No belongings, no cash, no transportation and no place to go. No personal credit (the abuser has seen to that), no work experience outside the home in years, no feeling of self-worth. She – 78 percent of the time it is a she – is traumatized, fearing for her life, and having trouble focusing on what to do next.
Enter the advocate, someone who is a calming influence, who assesses the needs and says what should be done next.
“It took more than a day to get in your present situation,” client advocate Kimberly Blackman soothingly tells a sobbing victim who left when her abusive partner wanted her to prostitute. “Be patient with yourself, think of positive things to say to yourself.”
First, there is the decision to stay with the abuser or leave, one the victim must make.
Stay? the social worker offers tips on conflict resolution (change the subject, separate and cool off) and writes up a safety plan (have a refuge to go to, a number where you can be reached, a code word that tells a friend or neighbor to call police).
Leave? The social worker is empowered to help with obtaining a restraining order, short-term or transitional housing, a voucher for food or clothing. The advocate explains how to apply for welfare, prepare a resume and do a targeted job search. She's often present for that terrifying court appearance.
The victim, in a world of hurt and in need of a world of help, is not alone in the Chula Vista model of family response. No being bounced from bureaucracy to bureaucracy. The advocate is present or a phone call away every step of the way, said South Bay Executive Director Kathryn Lembo. Follow-up is constant: Has the paperwork been filed, are your kids showing signs of trauma, any different behavior?
If there is a weak link in this collaboration of cop, social worker and prosecutor, it is us, the public too often missing in action or rather inaction. The system alone is not enough.
Those in abusive relationships need someone they can confide in. They and the system need more members of the public who are willing to report possible abuse and let authorities decide. Criminal trials need witnesses. A member of the public is a more reliable witness than a battered mommy too scared to show up.
DON SEVRENS