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Domestic Violence Initiative

The Facts - In the United States

  • A woman is beaten every 15 seconds.
  • Every month over 50,000 women seek restraining or protective orders.
  • 50% of homeless women and children are fleeing domestic violence.
  • 70%-80% of batterers also abuse their children.
  • Child abuse occurs in 30-60% of family violence cases that involve families with children.
  • 40% of girls ages 14-17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.
  • Over 3 million children are at risk of exposure to parental violence each year.

Sources: US Department of Justice, March 1998 FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 1998

The Facts - In Region 5

  • 58% of the clients served in domestic violence shelters are children under age seven.
  • 71% of the children served by domestic violence shelters are under age 10.
  • Domestic violence shelters collectively provide services to over 250,000 clients annually.
  • Domestic violence shelters receive over 600,000 crisis intervention

Source: State Domestic Violence Annual Reports, US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

State Contacts

Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence
801 S. 11th
Springfield, IL. 62703
(217) 789-2830

Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence
2511 E. 46th Street, Suite N-3
Indianapolis, IN. 46205
(317) 543-3908

Michigan Coalition Against Domestic Violence
3893 Okemos Road, Suite B2
Okemos, MI. 48864
(517) 347-7000

Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women
450 N. Syndicate Street, Suite 122
St. Paul, MN. 55104
(651) 646-1527

Ohio Domestic Violence Network
4041 N. High Street, Suite 101
Columbus, OH. 43214
(614) 784-0023

Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence
1400 E. Washington Ave., Suite 232
Madison, WI. 53703
(608) 255-0539

ACF’s Commitment

In accordance with The Family Violence Prevention and Services, Act P.L. 98-457, Region V is committed to increasing the awareness and raising community consciousness of the impact of domestic violence throughout the States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

This is being achieved through:

  • building and establishing ongoing collaborative relationships and partnerships,
  • gathering and disseminating information,
  • organizing and facilitating conferences and training within communities, and
  • identifying community needs and recommending best practices and initiatives.

In addition, ACF seeks to:

  • promote prevention practices,
  • help families build healthy relationships without abuse,
  • advocate to improve system and institutional responses to domestic violence, and
  • offer research, analysis, and leadership, on emerging policy issues relevant to domestic violence.

What Is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence is abuse between married or unmarried partners. It is a pattern of coercive behavior by one partner that controls or dominates the other. Domestic violence can take a number of forms, including:

Physical abuse, such as slapping, punching, threatening with a weapon, coerced sexual acts, and refusing to help when a partner is sick, injured or pregnant.

Emotional abuse, such as yelling, taunting, manipulating with lies, abusing pets or children, destroying important belongings, and isolating a partner from the outside world.

Sexual abuse, such as forcing unwanted sex, rape, sexual name calling, forcing a partner to dress in a sexual manner, and forcing pregnancy.

Economic abuse, such as taking or withholding money, controlling assets, keeping a partner from working/school, and withholding financial information and access to family finances.

Psychological abuse, such as attacks on self-esteem, controlling or limiting behavior, repeated insults, and interrogation. Typically, many kinds of abuse go on at the same time in a household. An abusive incident is rarely isolated and it almost always happens again.

What Is The Effect On Children?

Experts agree that domestic violence seriously threatens the health and emotional well-being of children. Studies indicate that children exposed to domestic violence demonstrated:

  • more aggression and behavior problems in school and the community,
  • more internalized behaviors such as depression, suicide, fears, low self-esteem and bedwetting,
  • impaired ability to concentrate and difficulty with school work, and
  • significantly lower scores on measures of verbal, motor, and cognitive skills. In addition, studies indicate that between 45% - 70% of children exposed to domestic violence are also victims of physical abuse. Studies also indicate that negative outcomes were more likely for children experiencing both domestic violence and child maltreatment than for children who had experienced only one form of violence or no violence.

What Is The Effect On Society?

The effects of domestic violence are felt far beyond the home. US businesses lose $5 billion annually from abuse-related absenteeism and another $100 million in medical costs. Violence in the home also contributes to the climate of violence in the streets; a majority of criminals who assault strangers are survivors of abusive families.