Partner violence may be increasing
Home isolation during pandemic has advocates saying problem is ‘a lot worse than we know it is’
CHICO » A tragic side effect of stay at home orders for much of 2020 has resulted in widespread concern about increased domestic violence, including in Butte County.
According to the most recent Community Health Assessment in 2019 from Butte County Public Health, the county already had higher rates of all categories of risk factor experiences such as emotional abuse, domestic violence or substance abuse, than the statewide average. As the 2020 pandemic caused repeated shut- down orders, the county’s Behavioral Health department reported in October the intensity of reported physical abuse has gone up, even if reporting is overall down for multiple reasons.
Director Scott Kennelly said it is likely patients are waiting to be admitted until their injuries are much more serious, as doctors are seeing higher rates of severe injuries and bodily trauma hidden while a patient was isolated at home, he said. This isolation has led to increased concern among local providers that domestic violence is increasingly hidden and making it more difficult for victims to escape or seek help.
Data on the year’s crisis reports from local crisis intervention non-profit Catalyst Domestic Violence Services will always be different from the data held by Behavioral Health and by law enforcement, Director Anastacia Snyder said Wednesday. She added that while intimate partner violence reports are not increasing overall, there is an increase in intensity of violence reported by the center’s advocates, and connections to factors like job loss and substance abuse.
“It’s not so much that case numbers are increasing,” she said. “We have seen a decrease in crisis line calls on the hotline by 30%.” And advocates are reporting much higher rates of “hang-ups” where a victim ends a call before finishing a report, which can lead to no report of that case, and misleading data. This anomaly is being seen nationwide as victims struggle to find ways to seek help or shelter.
However, counseling appointments made with the center did increase about 10%, along with an increase in people placed in supportive housing. Snyder said more people might be making appointments due to accessibility of virtual sessions, but the fear of getting caught by an abusive partner is higher.
“There are significantly more barriers to reaching out,” Catalyst therapist Gloria Wetterstrom said. “People want to reach out, but it’s harder for them do so. The partner is often now at home when they were typically working.” That creates a barrier for services, if victims fear making a report to law enforcement and have fewer options for escape.
And Catalyst advocate Ruth Piper added, “It is a lot worse than we know it is.”
“They don’t usually report. When they do, they downplay a lot of it. I don’t even know everything
that’s happening.”
Major factors
The housing crisis, job losses and increasing substance use, particularly alcoholism, have all been seen in most cases handled by staffers at the center. Wetterstrom and Piper agreed clients have seen partners with abusive tendencies using alcohol more often, often increasing the abuse experienced.
There are also stresses on people from catastrophic events like the fires, a unique problem for Butte County. Snyder said the longer people are at home and isolated, the more intense aggravated behaviors might be.
“Isolation is a key tactic people who cause harm use to maintain that power and control with intimate partner violence,” she said. Unfortunately, pandemics can increase the use of such tactics.
“A person could say, we can’t go visit your family because of COVID-19 … you become more and more isolated from friends and support systems because your partner uses COVID-19 as a reason. When you’re isolating at home with someone who is causing you harm, they will use any tactic they can.”
People are also limited for escape due to the pandemic. Wetterstrom said clients can’t go to a friend’s house for safety, and hotel rooms are scarce and take more time to secure. Virtual counseling often is not enough support and can lead to fears of being discovered by a partner at home.
In many ways, economic struggles compound the trapping of abuse victims, she added. Most clients have said they cannot leave an abusive relationship due to having no other options for housing.
” Victims make less money than on average other people, being mostly women but also people in domestic roles,” Wetterstrom said.
“There’s a huge correlation between being a (abuse) victim and making less money. You can be convinced you need to get
out, but if you can’t leave because there isn’t housing and you cant afford it, it doesn’t matter. It was really bad before COVID-19 and COVID-19 has made things worse.”
Piper said “People here are often isolated. After fires, it’s even harder to get resources to people.”
“Resources are very strained when you’re just looking at victims of fire. It gets ignored, which makes it worse. Then you’re stuck where you’re at. You’re pretty much forced to stay in the same place until things get better and often they just don’t get better,” Piper said.
While “people around here are every compassionate for the most part,” she added understanding and non-judgement are key.
“I don’t think people understand how when someone is already isolated, having them stay at home is condemning them for even worse experiences that they wouldn’t normally have. You’re trapped, and when you’re trapped it’s a terrible feeling.”
“The folks we work with experiencing violence, have had to balance many traumas,” Snyder added. “We are talking about people who have significant amounts of trauma in their life and their physical safety is a significant concern.”
Snyder added while the organization can’t change the current way of reaching victims virtually, the next pivot will be toward securing more permanent housing. Community discussions around homelessness have to include consideration for how many abuse survivors are part of the unhoused population, she said. The center is looking for more permanent housing options, using state grant funds, in order to avoid placing people in a congregate emergency shelter.
But “It’s so hard with limited windows to let people make decisions and move safely,” she said.
Piper added she hopes more in the community understand how domestic violence can be hidden from sight, particularly as the pandemic persists.
“We don’t know what’s happening at home. And we can’t judge people based on not even knowing.”