Women’s Shelters See Uptick In Inhabitants

Financial Stress A Factor, Facility Director Says

— Although the local economy is making gains, money problems remain a stress point for troubled couples already struggling with pre-existing relationship issues.

Melanie Palmer, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, said the Rogers organization serves several clients who suffer abuse that’s been made worse or triggered by financial stress.

“Based on what we see, financial stress won’t cause abuse in a family where it didn’t exist before, but it seems to escalate the violence,” she said. “The more stress the abuser is under, the more likely he is to act out that frustration on his partner.”

The number of clients sheltered at the Rogers facility began to rise with the 2008 economic downturn.

From 217 clients in 2008, the shelter’s inhabitants nearly doubled to 424 in 2009.Numbers of clients were 448 and 477, respectively, in 2010 and 2011, and last year, 526 men, women and children called the shelter their temporary home.

The Peace at Home Family Shelter in Springdale, which opened in a new facility at its current location in 2008, has also seen an uptick in clients during the recession. Between 2010 and 2011, Peace at Home experienced a 37 percent increase in the number of clients served,said executive director Teresa Mills. Because of its location, most of Peace at Home’s clients come from Washington and Madison counties.

In line with reports from the National Network to End Domestic Violence, as the economy has faltered, there have been more incidences of reported domestic violence nationwide, Mills said.

“We’re absolutely hearing reports from women that the economy has been an additional stressor on tenuous marital or intimate partner relationships,” Mills said. The two may not be directly tied, “but it exacerbates a situation that’s already present.”

The economic picture appears to be improving, especially in Northwest Arkansas, “but the daily ins and outs of getting through life factor into domestic violence,” said Rogers Police Capt. Hayes Minor, who is also new on the board of the Northwest ArkansasWomen’s Shelter.

“From a law enforcement perspective, a lot of times we see the loss of a job or a financial struggle, fueled by either drug or alcohol abuse ... [those situations] end of in the police getting called and someone going to jail,” Minor said.

In November and December, the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter took in 95 women and children, nearly double the number from the same period in 2011. In just those two months, staff members received 349 calls on the shelter’s 24-hour crisis hotline, 82 of which were from individuals in immediate danger. At one point, in December, the shelter held 43 people, the most its ever housed at one time, Palmer said. Clients and families hadto double up in the shelter’s 18 rooms.

“In general, rates of domestic violence are going up,” she said. “We’re seeing a lot more referrals from police departments, hospitals and other social service agencies. That tells me there’s an increase in need.

“During the holidays, we see a lot of clients who don’t want to be in a violent situation for the holidays, they’re hoping to make a new start for a new year, that kind of thing,” Palmer added.

The shelter takes in clients from all over the state, as well as neighboring states, never turning anyone away, regardless of space and resources. The same goes for the Peace at Home Family Shelter.

LIFE BEYOND ABUSE

One recent Monday morning at the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter, some of the clients were fresh from slumber, walking around in their stocking feet, holding cupsof hot coffee as their children played at their feet. They have access to a food pantry and a full kitchen, something others often take for granted.

“They can eat whatever they want, whenever they want,” Palmer said of the clients. “Some have never had the ability to cook for themselves.”

Even as the clients are going about the job of healing in the shelter’s safe atmosphere, a staff member at a desk nearby was taking a crisis call from another abuse victim in need of shelter.

The Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter name is perhaps a misnomer because about 5 percent of its clients, about 50 in 2012, were men.

“When the economy went down, we sheltered several men who had lost their jobs,” Palmer explained. “Their wives or partners became the primary breadwinners and economic abuse took place because of that.”

“And then we do have malevictims who are experiencing physical violence too. They’ve been taught, of course, not to hit someone, so they’re not going to hit back, but they’re wives are physically abusive,” Palmer said.

Minor, the police captain, said one immediate goal as a board member is to better inform law enforcement agencies about services for victims that are available post-arrest of their abusers. The intent is to keep victims from having to reconcile with their abusers because they lack the skills, experience or confidence to get a job to start their lives over.

“Oftentimes the victim gets overlooked, unintentionally, so what can we do to make sure that the victim at least knows where they can seek services and get help,” he said.

The Rogers Police Department is looking to develop a pamphlet with such information like one produced by the Fayetteville Police.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/14/2013

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