Domestic violence and its effect on women and children and ways to respond/address

Tanisha Durrant-Higgin

Wilmington University

August 23, 2020

 Child Inc. is a non-profit organization that operates locally in Delaware by providing

programs that protects victims of domestic violence. Child Inc’s mission is to be the leading

advocate for Delaware’s children. Child Inc’s vision is to provide creative prevention and

treatment programs that meets the changing needs of families (childinc.com). The organization is

committed to serving dependent, neglected and abused children and their families by providing

programs for those involved in domestic violence, especially children. The Delaware Coalition

Against Domestic Violence (2020), defines domestic violence as a pattern of abusive behavior

and coercive control that can happen in a dating, marital, or live-in intimate partner relationship;

where one partner tries to maintain control over the other by using physical, psychological,

verbal, and sexual violence.

The domestic violence program offered by Child Inc, offers an array of services that aim

to address and provide services and resources to children and their families involved in domestic

violence situations. The services provided include:

Shelter services - Child Inc. has two crisis shelters, specific to meeting the needs of

victims of domestic violence that are operated from confidential locations (childinc.com). Single

women or women with their children benefit from physical safety as well as a variety of support

services. These support services include safety planning, goal setting, resource identification,

social services and legal advocacy, support groups, and connections to employment and housing.

These services are free of charge to residents and are provided by trained staff who are on-site

24/7. Child Inc. also provides shelter services to men with or without children who may need

crisis shelter to escape an abusive partner. Men are typically more reluctant to report the abuse

due to the stigma attached to their situation; therefore, majority of the population serviced

through the program are single women and women with children. Clients are referred to the
program through the domestic violence hotline by trained crisis counselors. Referrals also come

through the Domestic Violence Advocacy Program that works directly with the family courts

where protection from abuse petitions are processed. Referrals are also made through domestic

violence liaisons which include First Responders, Emergency Technicians at the local hospitals

and Division of Family Services (DFS) staff members.

Counseling services - Counseling services are provided by the community therapist to

children and domestic violence victims through individual therapy and or group/family therapy

(childinc.com). The therapy is provided in a trauma-informed manner to help the

victims/survivors better identify and heal from the impact of the trauma they experienced.

Therapy is provided to children who have been exposed to domestic violence through the

Helping Children Heal, a service offered through the Domestic Violence Treatment Program

(DVTP). Helping Children Heal program offers assessment, referral and crisis counseling to

children in residence at both crisis shelters for domestic violence victims. These services are also

available to children exposed to intimate partner violence, who live in areas served by the

Sparrow Run Family Resource Center (childinc.com). The program serves children between the

ages of 4 and 18 years, who have been exposed to intimate partner violence. The DVTP also

provide treatment service to adults who are victims/survivors of intimate partner violence

through individual therapy. The focus of the therapy is to help individuals establish safety and

stability in their lives and the lives of their children. The therapy is provided in a trauma-

informed manner and individuals are helped to recognize and heal from the impact of traumatic

experiences. Community therapy and support group is also provided in a safe environment for

individuals who have experienced violence or abuse from an intimate partner. Groups meet on a

weekly basis and are available in Northern and Southern New Castle County. 
 Offender Intervention Services - The Domestic Violence Treatment Program (DVTP)

provides structured counseling interventions for both men and women who have committed acts

of intimate partner violence or abuse (childinc.com). The counseling interventions are certified

by the Delaware Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (DVCC) and adhere to standards

established by that organization. Participation in the intervention services can be either voluntary

or court mandated. The offender intervention services help participants:

 Develop a more accurate understanding of violence and abuse

 Accept responsibility for their behavior

 Commit unconditionally to end abusive behavior

 Improve self-management and communication skills

 Better respond to the actions of others

The services employ a combination of education, encouragement and respectful confrontation in

efforts to facilitate change. 

Family Visitation Centers - A variety of family situations necessitate the use of the

visitation centers including intimate partner violence, a history of difficulties surrounding child

visitation or exchange, parental substance use or lack of suitable visitation space, among others

(childinc.com). Services include on-site multi family group supervised visits, monitored

exchange or individually supervised visits. The three centers, in Wilmington, Newark and

Middletown are equipped with trained staff, video cameras, and other safety features. Prior to

starting visitation or exchange, each adult party must participate in an individual orientation

(childinc.com). Children may take part in child orientations or a series of orientations to help

them learn about the center and increase their comfort. The centers make every effort to provide

services at a reasonable cost.

 Advocacy for domestic violence victims - Domestic violence advocates operate through

the family courts through a referral system to provide support services and connecting victims

with the right resources during their time of need.

The Domestic Violence program offered at Child Inc. is one of the few programs that offers

survivor services to the entire family as well as to the offender, regardless of the gender. Ann

Altemus, director of the domestic violence program at Child Inc. expressed the importance of

serving all who have been affected by domestic violence/family violence/intimate partner

violence regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status. Ann

Altemus explained that the programs offered by Child Inc. are family-centered, therefore

treatment programs and services are designed to treat the entire family unit to enhance their

capacity to care for and protect their children. Child Inc. is more diverse when compared to other

programs in their immediate community; other programs in and around Delaware provide

services to a specific group, such as women, and women and children only.

After reviewing the Child Inc. 2019 annual report it was noted that only 5 (1.8%) of the

individuals who utilized the shelter services were males. The program director agreed that the

majority of participants were women, ad women with children. Ann Altemus agreed that the

male counterpart is more reluctant to report the abuse due to the stigma associated to their

situation even though 1 in 4 men in Delaware have experienced some form of physical violence

by an intimate partner. Child Inc. is one of two organization within New Castle county, and one

of four organizations in Delaware that is certified to provide offender intervention services. The

2019 report highlighted that 387 men (80%) utilized the Offender Intervention services at Child

Inc.
 The majority of the population serviced through the program are single women and

women with children who are trying to escape an abusive environment. With the current Covid-

19 pandemic still looming over our heads, Child Inc. and other service providers have to adjust

how services are delivered. Services are now being provided under CDC guidelines, which limits

the number of individuals who are able to be housed in the shelters and other housing solution in

an attempt to reduce the spread of the covid-19 virus. Due to distance restrictions, it now cost

more to service a smaller number of individuals in the domestic violence program. Individuals

who seek refuge from the program are typically unemployed and are in need of permanent

housing solution and other social needs.

According to Healey (2014), domestic abuse may involve a wide range of non-physical

behaviors which can include but s not limited to emotional abuse, social abuse and financial

abuse. Emotional abuse includes blaming the victim for all the problems in the relationship,

constantly comparing the victim with others to undermine self-esteem and self-worth of the

victim (Healey, 2014). Social abuse is the systematic isolation from family and friends though

techniques such as ongoing rudeness to family and friends, moving to locations where the victim

knows no one, and forbidding or physically preventing the victim from going out and meeting

people (Healey, 2014). Social abuse is intended to strip the victim from any form of emotional

support from friends and family and the victim is often times made to feel guilty about going out

even though they are constantly being checked upon when they are away from the abuser.

Financial abuse is when complete control of all monies and finances are controlled by the abuser.

The victim is provided only with an inadequate allowance, but never given access to the finances

(Healey, 2014). After speaking with Ann Altemus, program director at Child Inc. she explained

that majority of the individuals seeking refuge from the program are persons who are financially
dependent on their abuser and have also been isolated from family members and their support

system.

The fundamental values of the human services profession include respecting the dignity

and welfare of all people; promoting self-determination; honoring cultural diversity; advocating

for social justice; and acting with integrity, honesty, genuineness and objectivity (NOHS, 2015)

It is very important that individuals are able to identify when they are at risk of abuse and are in

physical danger. The first step an individual need to take to develop long-term self-help is to talk

to someone they trust. According to Healey (2014), talking to someone else can be hard, but

many people who have experienced abuse say that the most helpful thing was getting support

from someone else. Talk to a friend, a family member or a counsellor; talking about the abuse

and how you feel can help you decide what to do (Healey, 2014).

Another step that an individual need to take to develop long-term self-help is to think

carefully about your safety and prepare yourself in case you and your children are placed in

physical danger (Healey, 2014). It is paramount for any individual who are in immediate danger

to have some means to be able to contact law enforcement to maintain their safety, and the safety

of their children. Law enforcement are trained to respond to domestic abuse and is able to

connect victims with the necessary resources to remove them from the harmful environment.

The third step that I will examine that an individual need to take to develop long-term

self-help is to introduce new values, thinking process, and relationship skills which promote

healthy interpersonal relationships that are incompatible with violence (Rakovec-Felser, 2014).

As a human service professional it is our responsibility to empower the client to make better life

decisions. Cognitive behavior theorists believe that people’s feelings and behaviors are affected

by the ways in which they think (Dorr, 2014). It is important to identify the victim’s thought
process when going into and also remaining in a relationship. By changing these thought

patterns, will contribute to a change in behavior and making healthier life decisions.

A number of different theories seek to address the causes of domestic violence. There is

no one single theory or discipline that explains why some individuals or groups are violent or

abusive towards others, or why violence is more prevalent in certain communities and groups

than others (Mckie, 2005). The acknowledgement of abuse of power and control is highlighted

throughout the main theories. The theories that will be examined are psychoanalytic theory,

social theory, and cognitive behavioral theory.

Psychoanalysis is a personality theory and, more generally, a theory of psychological

functioning that focuses particularly on unconscious mental processes (Kernberg, 2004).

According to Hyde-Nolan & Juliano (2012), psychoanalytic theories focus on individual internal

psychological processes that create a need to be abusive or to accept abusive behavior. The

concept of psychoanalytic theory was originally developed by Sigmund Freud who discovered

that the conversion of a patient’s symptoms was as a result of past traumatic experiences that had

become unconscious. These traumatic experiences are believed to influence a patient’s

functioning despite repressive defensive mechanisms excluding them from being consciously

aware. Freud concluded that powerful fears motivated the repression of awareness of infantile

desires; fear of loss of physical and emotional connections. According to (Kernberg, 2004)

psychoanalytic treatment consists of the creation of an atmosphere of safety in which the patient

is willing to try to express whatever comes to mind. The systematic interpretation of resistances

gradually permits an ever-growing freedom of free association and awareness of unconscious

desires and fears, fantasies and terrors, traumatic situations and unresolved mourning (Kernberg,

2004).
 Violence arises from a complex interaction of political, social, cultural and economic

factors (Mckie, 2005). The social theories of domestic violence focus on processes that are

created from interactions with others in one-to-one relationships or in larger groups (Hyde-Nolan

& Juliano, 2012). According to Mckie (2005), earlier sociological theories were not so much

concerned with violence, but rather with the development of legitimate forms of social control,

consensus and cohesion or sources of division, exclusion and conflict. By the time violence was

recognized and considered, it reflected interest surrounding the workings of authority and power

(Mckie, 2005). Theorists have argued that violence is never legitimate but rather the destruction

of power, and not the operation of legitimate forms of power. Power and violence are opposites;

violence appears where power is in jeopardy, when one rules absolutely the other is absent

(Mckie, 2005).

In considering violence in the family, a number of feminist and pro-feminist perspectives

argues that mainstream theories and domestic violence researchers have disregarded the

interweaving and influence of gender and power, and the dominance of heterosexuality in

families (Mckie, 2005). Arguments were presented by Mckie (2005), illustrating that violence is

used by the most powerful member of the family as a means of legitimizing his or her dominated

position. This assertion is based upon the idea that either a woman or a man can hold power

equally (Mckie, 2005). The more powerful member of the family often uses the threat or use of

force or the threat or use of violence to obtain compliance from the less power family members

(Hyde-Nolan & Juliano, 2012). These threats, force, and violent behaviors are intended to

prohibit the less powerful members of the family from engaging in behavior that the controlling

individual does not want, while establishing a demand for desirable behavior to occur (Hyde-

Nolan & Juliano, 2012).

 Cognitive behavior theory also focuses on how aggression, abuse, and violence are

learned and, transferred among individuals, but this theory further attempts to explain why

abusive behaviors are sometimes transmitted from generation to generation while other times

they are not (Hyde-Nolan & Juliano, 2012). The basis of cognitive theory is that people’s

feelings and behaviors are affected by the ways in which they think (Dorr, 2014). Cognitive

theorists believe that to help people feel better you need to tackle the problem where it starts, in

their thoughts (Dorr, 2014). Cognitive therapy focuses on understanding how people’s belief

systems affect their attitudes, experiences, and expectations in life, and interventions are aimed at

helping clients question faulty ways of thinking about themselves and the world, and to

encourage more realistic and self-affirming beliefs.

Human service professionals should uphold the integrity and ethics of the profession

(NOHS, 2015). It is important that professional boundaries are maintained in the client-

professional relationship at all times. Standard five (5) of the ethical standards for human

services professionals states that service professionals should recognize that multiple

relationships may increase the risk of harm to or exploitation of clients and may impair their

professional judgment. When it is not feasible to avoid dual or multiple relationships, human

service professionals should consider whether the professional relationship should be avoided or

curtailed. It is important that the service professional establishes clear boundaries from the onset

of service delivery. Under no circumstances should the professional engage in sexual or romantic

relationships with clients as outline in standard six (6) of the ethical standards for human services

professionals (NOHS, 2015).

Relationship boundaries and the consequences of violating the boundaries should be

reviewed and agreed upon at the beginning of the service relationship. Service professionals at
Child Inc. utilizes the standards to guide their decisions while acting in the best interest of the

client. The domestic violence program adheres to HIPPA guidelines in regard to respecting the

client’s confidentiality and inform clients of the limits of confidentiality prior to the onset of the

helping relationship. Standard three (3) of the ethical standards for human services professionals

states that human service professionals protect the client's right to privacy and confidentiality

except when such confidentiality would cause serious harm to the client or others, when agency

guidelines state otherwise, or under other stated conditions (e.g., local, state, or federal laws),

(NOHS, 2015). Clients entering into the domestic violence program are admitted into the

program after program and ethical standards are agreed upon. After reviewing other programs

within the community I realized that Child Inc. has set itself apart from other program providers.

Child Inc. is the only provider that provides shelter option to all members of the family. People’s

Place is a service provider in the community that adheres to the same ethical standards that Child

Inc. does, however People’s Place primarily provide services to adolescent girls who have been

exposed to domestic violence.

Child Inc and People’s Place both receive referrals from the courts, physicians, law

enforcement and the division of family services. Clients are referred to the program through the

domestic violence hotline by trained crisis counselors. Referrals also come through the Domestic

Violence Advocacy Program that works directly with the family courts where protection from

abuse petitions are processed. Referrals are also made through domestic violence liaisons which

include First Responders, Emergency Technicians at the local hospitals and Division of Family

Services (DFS) staff members.

No one organization can provide all the required services so it is very important that the

right collaborations are made to ensure that clients receive the needed services to navigate them
to self-sufficiency. Child Inc’s mission is to be the leading advocate for Delaware’s children, and

it’s vision is to provide creative prevention and treatment programs that meets the changing

needs of families (childsinc.com). I do believe that Child Inc. is carrying out its mission to

advocate for the children of Delaware through its commitment to provide continuous services to

not only children but also their family.

 References

Child Inc. Altemus, Ann [E-mail interview]. (2020).

Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (2020). Retrieved fromhttps://dcadv.org/what-

we-do/prevention/root-causes-of-domestic-violence.html

Domestic Violence Services. (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.childinc.com/domestic-violence-

services/

Dorr, Carol. 2014. Social Work Live: Theory and Practice in Social Work Using Videos

Healey, J. (2014). Domestic and family violence. The Spinney Press.

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wilmcoll-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1593879

Hyde-Nolan, M., & Juliano, T. (2012). Theoretical Basis for Family Violence. Retrieved from

http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763780340/80340_CH02_FINAL.pdf

Kernberg, O. F. (2004). Contemporary controversies in psychoanalytic theory, techniques, and

their applications. New Haven: Yale University Press.

McKie, L. (2005). Families, violence and social change. ProQuest Ebook

Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

NOHS (2015). Ethical Standards for HS Professionals. Retrieved from

https://www.nationalhumanservices.org/ethical-standards-for-hs-professionals

Rakovec-Felser, Z. (2014). Domestic Violence and Abuse in Intimate Relationship from Public

Health Perspective. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26973948