NORCROSS, GA, (NAMC) - Domestic violence can make children less likely to succeed in school, more likely to suffer and commit violent crime, and more likely to experience health problems that can last throughout their lives. The impact of domestic violence goes beyond the statistics, it impacts the overall community directly or indirectly.
"The woman was cooking. The family was expecting many [guests]. It was the first time her husband hit her," . "The pressure of looking good...It was hot in the kitchen...The cooking and chopping and peeling and running to the store." This is an ever ocurring theme among our candidates every year. The abuse doesn’t end there. It often leads to more abuse thereafter, with the entire family torn apart and the children ending up with inherent emotional and pshychological scars.
Every December the stress that arrives in equal shares with the tinsel and mistletoe drives already frayed people to abuse their families, those who already are abused often are susceptible to more frequency and sometimes fatal ones during the holiday months.
Finding the money to buy the best gifts is the most obvious cause for familial strife. Stretching a paycheck to cover the rent, grocery bill and clothing is difficult enough for struggling families. When these needs are combined with the wants of the season, a boiling point could be reached.
The Effects of Domestic Violence on the children
Research shows that even when children are not the direct targets of violence in the home, they can be harmed by witnessing the occurrence of such violence.
Growing up in a home with domestic violence is both terrifying and traumatic. According to Stiles (2002), research has shown that exposure to domestic violence can affect children’s social, emotional and, cognitive development ( v66, ill p. 2052). Domestic violence can make children less likely to succeed in school, more likely to suffer and commit violent crime, and more likely to experience health problems that can last throughout their lives.
Finding Support During the Holidays – Going beyond the Definitions
It is more difficult to find support during the holiday season, with people so wrapped up in their own efforts to have a nice holiday, those with greater problems are often left without a crutch.
"We focus more support on our ongoing clients because of the nature of the season the holidays "can reinforce bad things for people who aren't in that good of an economic position, who aren't that well off.
Holiday-related pressures are frequently even greater for women who have left their abusers, experts have said. Many suffer without the support of loved ones, and they express feelings of guilt for not having been able to hold their families together. The shame of not having enough money to buy the children gifts on their wish lists, the helplessness of not being able to care for the children, the despair, the feeling of abandonement are all too real among, even our candidates, who are survivors.
Abused victims and their chilren need more help especially during the holiday season. This is why at Women Are Dreamers Too we purposely schedule a graduation ceremony to coincide with the holiday seasons. This year we have teamed up with the “toys for tots” folks as a distribution Center, we are hosting our Xmas Angel on December 22nd , but we still need more help for these families and their children.
"The emphasis is not on leaving as the politically correct thing to do but, rather, what is right for each individual woman."- Cindy Williams
For those women who do leave, violence and control issues do not necessarily stop. In fact, they often escalate.
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