The Effects of Domestic Violence

A woman wakes up in the middle of the kitchen floor, and as she opens the one eye that isn’t swollen shut, she frantically searches for her minor child with no avail. She calls the police who take her report and then question her about her bruises and black eye. She tells them what happened; they take her report and begin the search for her daughter. When they find her daughter and husband they return them both home because the daughter is “safe” in their eyes and she has fearfully corroborated her father’s alibi that they haven’t been home all day. The officers leave, satisfied that they have done their jobs, only to discover the next day that the man they returned home safe has now beaten his
The aggression that can occur from seeing violence like this can spill over into a child’s own social life. It can affect friendships and cause many problems in school. Being forced to deal with these feelings alone could obviously adversely affect a child’s learning experience at school and make it nearly impossible to develop and maintain healthy relationships with their peers. These are the effects from just witnessing violence between their parents. This doesn’t include what can happen if a child is caught in the crossfire. There are a terrifying amount of children who are also subject to the physical abuse themselves. So, in addition to seeing the one person who tried to protect them get abused, they are now bearing the brunt of some of these attacks.

According to the Domestic Violence Resource Center (2010) In a national survey of American families, 50% of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently abused their children. [pic]

This puts a whole new perspective on things for the mothers now. The mothers who have been trying to protect their children from seeing the violence have left their children vulnerable to being abused also. This is a serious and vicious cycle that has to be broken. Children who view this kind of violence and are subject to it themselves will most likely be abusers in their adult life. So what is to be done? Where do these desperate victims and their helpless children turn