Published on April 02, 2006
Assisting Children and Youth Exposed To Violence
Every year, as many as 10 million children will witness their mothers being abused.(ref ) These children are more likely to exhibit cognitive and physical health problems like depression, anxiety, and violence toward peers, are more likely to attempt suicide, abuse drugs and alcohol, run away from home, engage in teenage prostitution, and commit sexual assault crimes, and are more likely to have long term health problems like obesity, diabetes and heart disease. (ref ) Simply put, these are children at risk.
Fortunately, many children can overcome the harm caused by witnessing abuse through effective interventions and developmentally appropriate mental health services. However, few children currently have access to these services. While successful interventions exist, without funding they remain limited and unable to reach most children who witness and experience violence. VAWA 2005 recognized this critical need by establishing a new program designed to mitigate the harmful effects of exposure to violence and reduce the risk of future victimization or perpetration.This funding would:
- Provide counseling, advocacy, and mentoring for children who witness violence;
- Provide training, coordination, and advocacy for programs that serve children and youth; and
- Work with child and youth-serving organizations on how to safely and confidentially identify children and families experiencing violence and refer them to programs offering direct services.
However, so far this program, authorized for $20 million per year, has not been funded. This year, because of the block grant structure President Bush has proposed, there is no way to know how much this program area will receive.
Below are stories of why this funding matters. If you were a child who witnessed violence, or if your children witnessed you being abused, please add your story and we'll put it in a booklet and hand deliver it to Congress.
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STORIES ABOUT CHILDREN EXPOSED TO VIOLENCE AND ABUSE
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If you grew up watching abuse, or if you children have seen you being abused, or if you provide services to children who witnessed abuse, please use our webform below to post your personal comments about why full funding for the Children Exposed to Violence programs are so important We'll compile your comments into a booklet that will be hand-delivered to legislative offices.
Some tips about writing personal comments.
If you are a survivor, make your comments as personal as possible. I know its hard to re-visit the event, and don't go any deeper than you feel safe doing, but if you can, describe what happened to you or your children, how old you or your children were, the perpetrator's relationship to you, how you felt, and why having services available for your children was or would have been a good thing. If you were able to access services, describe specifically how they were helpful. If you were not able to access services, explain the impact of that. Please do not identify anybody by name in your comments.
If you are a service provider or someone who works with victims/survivors tell about the work you do, how it makes a difference and why this funding matters. Its especially powerful to tell the story of how your services made a difference for one person or family. Or write a diary of a day in your life as a service provider- what specifically did you do? You may also wish to tell about funding cuts or cuts in programming that your agency has experienced. But please, don't just talk about the money. Talk about the tragedies you are witnessing and the lives you are touching. Make it real, so they cannot turn away and pretend not to know..
My Comments |
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