 Between
3.3 and 10 million American children witness
domestic violence annually.1
Children
who witness violence display emotional and
behavioral disturbances such as withdrawal, low self
esteem, nightmares, and aggression against family,
peers and property.2
Studies
show children who witness domestic violence show
that they are more likely to perpetuate the cycle of
violence in their own relationships.3
Children
fail to report domestic violence or sexual abuse of
shame, fear of retaliation, or fear of not being
believed.4
Children
who witness domestic violence are more likely to
exhibit behavioral and physical health problems
including depression, anxiety, and violence towards
peers.5
The need
for supervised visitation centers far exceeds the
number of available programs, resulting in courts
ordering unsupervised visitation and endangering
parents and children.6
Sources:
1
Schechter & Edleson, Domestic Violence and Children:
Creating a Public Response, Center on Crime,
Communities & Culture for the Open Society Institute
(2000).
2 Peled,
Inad, Jaffe, Edleson, Ending the Cycle of Violence:
Community Responses to Children of Battered Women,
Sage publications.
3Strauss,Gelles, & Smith, “Physical Violence in
America Families; Risk Factors and Adaptations to
Violence” in 8,145 Familes. Transaction Publishers
(1990).
4Phillips,
Using/Losing Her Voice: Consent, Coercion, and
Sexual Silences, Paper presented at the Annual
Ethnography and Education Conference, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania (March 1993).
5Jaffe &
Sudermann, “Child Witness of Women Abuse: Research
and Community Response” in Stith & Strauss.
6Strauss,
“Supervised Visitation and Family Violence,” 29
Family Law Quarterly 229, 232-33 (1995).
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