By Isaac Groves, Times-News
The Family Justice Center and Family Abuse Services are busier now than ever, which, in one way, is a good thing.
“That’s what you want when you build something like this,” said Cindy Brady, director of the FJC.
One of the hardest things about helping the victims of domestic violence is getting them to come in for help. Family Abuse Services, what Brady calls the center’s anchor agency, last year started working with the Burlington Police Department to get more victims to come in by educating them about what’s at stake and putting them in touch with people who can help.
“The hard truth of the cycle is that it’s hard to break the cycle,” said Tammy Smith, interim executive director of Family Abuse Services. “When you’re in a situation, that becomes your normal.”
When officers respond to a domestic-violence call, they conduct a “lethality assessment” — 11 questions, including “Has he or she ever threatened to kill you?” and “Do you think he or she would kill you?” Research has shown the scores give a pretty good idea of how high the risk is of their abuser seriously hurting or killing them. When the score is high, police put victims on the phone with advocates at Family Abuse Services.
Between the direct contact and the sobering news, more victims are turning to the center. There was a 57-percent increase in traffic from January 2016 to January 2017, Smith said, and traffic was higher in April than it was in January.
In April, Burlington police conducted 128 screenings. Sixty-two of them scored high on the lethality assessment. Forty-eight of those victims chose to speak to a volunteer over the phone, and with those conversations and follow-up calls from the volunteers, five of those victims actually went to the center.
Smith said that figure sounds low, but on average it can take seven to 14 contacts with an advocate before victims are ready to take action and believe they can overcome the obstacles to starting their lives over.
“We want to keep that connection open,” Smith said. “There’s always a follow-up, and maybe it is the second or third time.”
Victims of domestic violence often don’t know how to get out of abusive situations. It’s common for the aggressor to use money, guilt, control over the family car, or even the well-being of children and pets as leverage.
There are programs and services to assist women and children with living expenses, counseling and even free legal help. In many communities those resources are scattered across town.
But in Alamance County, agencies including Legal Aid, the Department of Social Services and law enforcement agencies have representatives at the center to work with victims to help them get to what Brady calls “the next best step.”
Smith is working with the county’s other law enforcement agencies to implement lethality assessments in those departments, which she expects will bring even more people to the center. That means the center needs to grow: Smith said her agency has gone from six to 12 staffers and will need more soon, especially advocates to follow-up with victims. Brady says the center always needs more volunteers.
In April Smith spoke to the Alamance County Board of Commissioners about her agency’s growing needs. “I wish we could work ourselves out of a job,” Smith told them, but the more they work, the more they raise demand.
“We’ve grown with the community,” she said, “and grown fast.”
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