BRAUN: COVID-19 crisis creates perfect storm for domestic violence
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In any crisis, domestic violence gets worse — and the Covid-19 pandemic is no exception.
As health and economic woes pile up, spikes in domestic abuse are being registered all over Europe and the UK, and in India and South America.
It’s so bad in France that since the mid-March lockdown incidents of domestic violence have increased 30%. Women are being placed in hotel rooms by the government for their safety.
According to a recent report in The Guardian, France’s situation is not unique. In Hubei province, domestic violence reports tripled. In Brazil, incidents are about 50% higher. In Cyprus, calls to a help line went up 30%.
Sheltering at home sounds safe, but for many women and children it means being trapped with their abuser.
Help for victims of domestic violence is stretched thin at the best of times, and during the coronavirus crisis, many support systems are overloaded or even closed for health reasons.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded recently by allocating $50 million for women’s shelters and sexual assault centres in Canada.
In Ontario, the Attorney General has just announced a special $4 million fund that will aid support services for victims of domestic abuse and violent crime. Part of the fund goes to helping the courts transition to remote operations — so the wheels of justice can keep turning.
Here in Toronto, the situation is developing.
According to a police spokesman, there’s been no dramatic increase.
But local therapists and health workers believe that’s going to change.
Veteran social worker Sheryl Ederman said we may still be okay because Toronto is not yet in full lockdown.
“Our streets are still fairly safe. Some shelters have been able to increase capacity to some extent, and people in the field will have been doing safety planning for clients,” she said. “You hope everyone will have a safety plan.”
Domestic violence, Ederman explained, doesn’t come out of the blue. There’s a pattern, sometimes generational, and usually a history.
In a situation like the current coronavirus crisis, “things just get worse.”
The abuser may have mental health issues, or addiction, or both.
On the mental health front, there are other problems. There’s already a lack of resources.
“And in a situation like this, someone escalating into paranoia, refusing their meds — you can’t get them in anywhere in the best of times, and you can’t take them to services now,” Ederman said. “So mental health issues can compound this.”
Add it all together, and while there are very few ‘first incidences’ of domestic abuse that suddenly appear in a crisis, “this is the perfect storm for something like that to happen, especially among young people.”
Once women find the courage to talk about what’s going on in their home, they can get help and a safety plan.
Families are guided to being “safe enough.”
“The kids get out in the morning and go to school, they get food at school, and they stay in after school programs. They come home and they know how and where to hide until they can go out again the next day,” Ederman said.
“Now the schools are closed. They’re in these enclosed spaces all day,” she added.
Some schools in Toronto know the home situation and are getting teachers to check in with students by phone.
A manager in mental health services said, “these are conversations to acknowledge the impact of this epidemic on mental health in the home. They talk to kids whose food and safety depended on the schools.”
It may not solve the problem, but it helps.
“The teachers know, they already know which homes aren’t safe. These are not new situations.”
The therapist, who did not want her name used, said the current advice is to rely on phone and online communication for safety planning.
The Assaulted Women’s Helpline (416-863-0511; 1-866-863-0511; #7233 on Bell, Rogers, Fido or Telus Mobile) is a good resource.
“Sending someone to a shelter right now isn’t fair — they might get turned away, or exposed to coronavirus,” the therapist said.
“Domestic violence is all about power and control. The goal is to keep victims away from everyone and everything, so this is just an ideal circumstance. It is very, very scary.”
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