In years past for Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, South Peninsula Haven House has led a march down Pioneer Avenue, with Homer police officers and Alaska State Troopers watching their backs a show of force to indicate law enforcement's support for reducing domestic violence. Some years, Haven House has put up signs saying "Violence Free Zone."
This year, awareness runs all day. From 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Mariner Theatre, Haven House holds a symposium on all aspects of family violence. A video about dating violence produced by teenagers will be shown. It's all part of Haven House's mission to provide counseling and refuge for women, children and men who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault a problem that has grown in the past few years.
The statistics tell only part of the story. According to the Homer Police Department's 2006 Annual Statistical Report, reports of domestic violence assaults doubled compared to 2005, from 14 in 2005 to 27 in 2006. Domestic violence restraining order services were 43 compared to 31 for 2005. Child sexual abuse and sexual assault reports stayed about the same. There were four child sexual abuse reports in 2006 and three in 2005. Both years had seven reports of adult sexual assault.
The real numbers can be seen in the client case loads at South Peninsula Haven House, the lower Kenai Peninsula's shelter and counseling service for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In the past year, Haven House has served about 340 individual clients, said Peg Coleman, executive director.
Or, look to its staff. The need for shelter sometimes exceeds capacity, with as many as 18 women or children staying overnight at the 10-bed facility. Lately, the shelter has been averaging 12 clients a night. Counselors get burned out, Coleman said.
"We see it all," she said. "It's almost like being in a goalie position all the time."
The police reports and Haven House contacts aren't the complete story. Often, by the time a victim calls police or neighbors report an assault numerous assaults have happened before, Coleman said.
"We know we're just scratching the surface," she said. "We're seeing more and more families that have been under the radar for a long time," she added.
Since changing its name from South Peninsula Women's Services, Haven House has widened its perspective of domestic violence as being not just a women's issue, but a problem affecting families a problem of family violence. Although the shelter can only house women and children, men who come to Haven House will be found safe homes, Coleman said.
"We've eliminated the idea that it's a gender issue, a one-sided issue," she said.
Haven House also has started hiring male advocates, a welcome presence at the shelter for children who need to see that men can be positive and compassionate, Coleman said.
That kind of male presence is what's needed to end family violence.
"Asking safe men to step up and help us with the problem that's where the hope is coming from," she said.
In Homer, the crossover between social problems doesn't stay neat and tidy. People who abuse drugs and alcohol often become victims or batterers.
"Families are coming to us with really chronic social needs. Kids with disabilities we're seeing moms with disabilities," Coleman said.
The disabilities are physical, mental or emotional.
"The gamut," she said. "The more vulnerable somebody is, the more likely because violence is about power and control it's more likely they'll be a victim."
Haven House also serves men who have been sentenced to attend what the courts call a domestic-violence intervention program, but what Coleman calls domestic-violence accountability. Often, as part of their probation, men must attend such programs.
"We're holding them accountable," Coleman said.
The men in the program come from all walks of life, from all religious faiths. Some men are neatly dressed and polite "Yale to jail," Coleman called it.
"It's an equal-opportunity problem," she said.
Despite the challenges, there's hope, Coleman said. State and federal funding has been cut, but private charities have stepped up, such as Kachemak Bay Rotary, which helped remodel an interview room at the shelter. For victims of sexual assault or child abuse, police and advocates can meet with the victim in a comfortable room at the shelter, and not the sterile, institutional setting of a hospital or police station.
"It's going to ease the trauma," Coleman said.
If a forensic exam is then needed, the victim can be taken to the hospital for an exam by Sexual Assault Response Team nurses.
"Having people stop by and say 'We really care about you' in the face of budget cuts has made a difference," Coleman said.
What impresses Coleman most are the families she serves.
"What I'm amazed at is the fortitude of these people," she said.
It's a fortitude also reflected in her staff, she said.
"I'm just really proud of the work Haven House has done. We keep doing it," Coleman said. "We're doing what we can with what we've got it."
Haven House runs a 24-hour crisis line at 235-8943. For general information, call 235-7712.
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
