Quote:
Originally Posted by Uptown Girl
I understand and applaud that you are coming from a place of deep compassion and are not solely focusing on the problem, but searching for solutions to provide additional tools to help.
As we know, domestic violence is not limited within socioeconomic barriers.
Removal of ones self from the destructive cycle can seem frightening, complicated or unattainable when you are wracked out emotionally and unable to sort things out. Many of these victims are 'programmed' by their captors into believing all sorts of untrue, negative things over a very long time.
Perhaps those with more education would search out places of support, or think to access written information via the library or computer.
For those with limited education or resources (like a car or a computer) live in a much smaller world with only emergency methods, like calling the police (if there is a phone) or escaping to a neighbor.
If they see a number to call on television, that can be a help. They might even see an ad in the local newspaper, though that is probably a less likely scenario.
I think that maybe having a link to a local center available through schools, churches, the police and even the fire department/ paramedics would be
helpful. A simple pamphlet or business card they could be given.
Heck, they could be on the counter in the local convenience store. But most centers don't have the resources to provide that.
I have ALWAYS said that I think basic Psychology should be a part of every school curriculum, from kindergarten on. At the kindergarten level, it can be about learning to navigate in polite society, then get more sophisticated as the child grows into a young adult.
This gives children a rudder, a standard. It may stop bullying. It certainly would shed light on ways to recognize and identify behavior that is unacceptable and suggest tools to work with if they find themselves in need.
It may indeed stop cycles that start early on in their lives at home.... or at least make them aware that this behavior is not how everybody does things... that there are alternate choices.
We made a stab at it by encouraging 'political correctness' as we like to call it. That was an utter failure, in my opinion and morphed quite off the mark.
We know that most perpetrators of domestic violence do not just manifest suddenly.... it is a craft that they grow into and hone over time. It is progressive. Always.
I wish I could offer more. Consider this food for thought, that's all.
I will say that the police and those in the court system do a pretty good job of recommending resources when they see a need. They do the best THEY can.
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Thanks for your thoughtful post. I do still believe that links to resources like the Florida Victim Services Directory should be readily available from public, medical and law libraries as well as from sheriffs' offices websites. Access to information is power of some kind but it can hardly offset a raised fist or voice. Kind of worry that in our struggling economy that some of these resources listed by the Florida Victim Services Directory are no longer available because they lost their funding.
http://myfloridalegal.com/directory
I did really great a break when I saw an e-mail I had sent out from Palm Harbor, FL back in 2003 or so to various media like Brandeis University's The Justice student newspaper appear when I Google Chromed my name back in early February of 2012.
http://www.thejustice.org/
It did make the struggle I have been in known to at least a few people and I got the impression someone was looking into my claims made back in 2003.
It disappeared again though now that I Google Chromed my name today on March 10, 2013. I can still look at it but it is no longer indexed by my name. Wonder how and why they do that?