By Geoff Cunningham Jr.
gcunningham@fosters.com
Monday, March 1, 2010
PORTSMOUTH — Those working on the front line of combating domestic violence on the Seacoast say the pressures of a slumping economy haven't resulted in a huge spike in local problems. But they say it has resulted in more intense physical violence being perpetrated between family members and partners.
Marsie Silvestro, the executive director of A Safe Place, said tough financial times have her staff dealing with more cases involving physical abuse inside and outside the home that she said is nothing short of a form of "domestic terrorism."
"What we are seeing is that the abuse is getting more serious ... we are finding more strangulations and physical beatings," Silvestro said.
A Safe Place Domestic Abuse Support Services is a nonprofit organization with offices in Rochester, Portsmouth and Salem and runs a battered women's shelter while also offering a wide range of services that seek to assist the victims of physical, financial, sexual, vernal and emotional abuse.
The agency has been around for 32 years and is the only such organization specifically dedicated to providing educational and legal assistance and shelter services to domestic abuse victims in 48 cities in towns in Rockingham and Strafford counties.
Silvestro said the 16 beds in the shelter are full nearly all of the time, and the agency is experiencing an ongoing trend that has more serious physical abuse being perpetrated by both men and women on their partners, children and pets.
Silvestro suspects a struggling economy likely has a hand in ramping up the level of abuse they are seeing where less abusers are worried about injuring significant others even in places on their body that are obvious to people outside other home.
"The abuser isn't the abuser of the past," Silvestro said.
The executive director noted a recent case in which a Hampton man was arrested after he ran over his 4-months-pregnant girlfriend with his pickup truck following what police described as a domestic argument.
Another high-profile domestic-related case has David J. Fischer, 40, of 78 Mount Vernon St. in Dover, facing felony second-degree assault and several misdemeanor charges relating to his alleged beating of his wife.
Authorities say Fischer grabbed his wife by the neck, threw her to the ground and at one point stepped on her head and grabbed her by the collar of her hooded sweat shirt and pulled her across the floor into another room. The Dover man is accused of threatening to kill his wife after she indicated she would apply for a restraining order.
Silvestro said more and more reports of people being choked or beaten are being witnessed in the Seacoast and she suggested they might be a result of an ongoing "cultural war" that has violence being the norm in America.
A Safe Place Director of Development Thea Shaw agreed and suggested the economy might have those already prone to violence simply not caring if their abusive behavior is evident to others or even authorities.
Shaw noted more abusers are out of work, using alcohol or drugs and depressed.
"A lot of times they think they have nothing to lose," Shaw said.
"There is a lot of displaced anger," Silvestro added.
A Safe Place served upward of 1,500 clients in 2008-2009, with services ranging from stays in their shelter to assisting with court proceedings that help victims obtain restraining orders. They also run programs in schools aimed at educating younger people about issues like teen dating abuse.
The nonprofit operates an approximate $800,000 annual budget that is funded largely through grants and donations. They don't charge anything for their services and run a shelter that is always staffed and a hot line that always has someone ready to answer.
"We are the agency that never sleeps or closes," Silvestro said.
Calls for service remain steady, but Silvestro said the biggest problem with the economy has been the constriction of funding for support services, court staffing and an overall lack of transitional/affordable housing.
A Safe Place advocates say the average stay of women in the shelter has gone from eight weeks to upward of three to four months.
Less staff at district courts is slowing the process of obtaining restraining orders and women — some already reluctant to leave the financial comfort of what can be an abusive relationship — are less inclined to break away from the violence to enter job and housing markets that have fewer prospects, according to Silvestro.
Another trend has A Safe Place providing more services to men who are the victims of abuse in the home. Silvestro said increased awareness of domestic abuse and services has contributed to a rise in males looking for help.
In 2008-2009, the organization served 135 men compared to the 50 or so it helped in 2007-2008. The year before that just four men were assisted.
And while A Safe Place expects to continue to deal with big challenges, they say some positive things are happening.
Silvestro said the country has grown from one that would ignore violence in households to one that is more inclined to contact police when problems arise.
A Safe Place leaders say they have a good working relationship with Seacoast police departments who are working harder to assure domestic abuse incidents find their way into court.
Silvestro said an ongoing effort is pushing police officers to conduct "lethality assessments" when they respond to domestic situations that would have patrolman calling domestic abuse hotlines and shelters to have victims speak with hotlines more immediately to avoid them being further injured or even killed.
For more information on A Safe Place go to www.asafeplacenh.org.
If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse call A Safe Place's 24-hour toll-free hot line at 1-800-854-3552.
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