Shelters for women fleeing domestic violence are under increasing strain in Rhode Island. Last week, an outreach worker in Woonsocket told The Public’s Radio all shelters in the state were full, a problem that has been occurring frequently. John Wesley is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence. He spoke with our weekend host Joe Tasca about what he calls a “public health crisis layered over another public health crisis.”
Rhode Island has a 24-hour statewide Helpline offering support, information, and advocacy for those impacted by crimes of violence, including domestic violence and sexual assault. Call the Helpline anytime at 1-800-494-8100 or visit helplineRI.com to learn more.
This conversation was produced for the ear. Click the orange play button above to listen. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Joe Tasca: John, thanks so much for joining us today.
John Wesley: Thank you for having me today.
Tasca: The Public’s Radio got a tip on Monday night that all of Rhode Island’s domestic violence shelters were full, and that this has been a frequent occurrence. Why is this happening, John? Is this a sign that incidents of domestic violence are increasing, or that there’s a need for more support, or both? What are you seeing?
Wesley: What we see is certainly, kind of a public health crisis layered over another public health crisis. And this was compounded during the pandemic. So we know that domestic violence is prevalent in our community. … In fact, the CDC estimates in Rhode Island specifically, the prevalence of women experiencing domestic violence is over 32%. … So we know it’s an issue that affects so many individuals and families. … And then when we had the public health crisis of COVID-19, what we saw was that folks were reaching out for help at even greater levels. During the summer of 2020, shortly after the pandemic started, in some instances, we saw upwards of a 90% increase to our hotline and helplines as compared to the year before the pandemic year. So that need has intensified. We’ve seen that nationally, we’ve seen that in international data as well, that unfortunately, intimate partner violence was exacerbated and increased as a result of the public health crisis. Well, we also see that with things like natural disasters, hurricanes, flooding incidents, that can go along with, you know, extreme climate change, that the incidences of domestic violence can increase during those times of emergency as well. … If we look at some of the root causes, it’s lack of affordable housing. We saw – during the pandemic years and even a little before that, we saw the length of shelter bed nights increase, as well. … in 2014 we saw an average shelter stay of about 37 nights or so. And then more recently, in 2021, we saw that increase to 98 nights. … And so shelter beds are not freed up, because folks don’t have a place to go outside of shelter in the community where they can find safe, affordable housing to stay safe and stay out of the abusive situation.
Tasca: John, can you talk about what communities or populations are most impacted by this shortage of housing and other resources?
Wesley: Well, it was certainly folks, you know, BIPOC communities. Marginalized communities that face disparate rates of housing insecurity, lack of affordable housing options, are also put at higher risk for facing intimate partner violence. … This is also from CDC prevalence data. We see that LGBTQ plus communities also can face higher rates of intimate partner violence when we look at that prevalence data. … One of the things that we advocated for during the last legislative session was more funding to try to address some of these barriers and gaps in services. So with the afford – with the opportunity to have the American Rescue Plan Act’s federal funding coming into the state, we were able to work with the General Assembly to increase the line items specifically for victims of domestic violence and their children for housing options and emergency shelter, but also for services to address some of these gaps for marginalized communities and those that may have even more barriers than others in trying to seek services and address and heal after experiencing domestic violence.
Tasca: Well, speaking of government funding, John, on Tuesday, it was announced that the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence is receiving $550,000 in federal funding. That must be music to your ears. What are the organization’s plans to utilize those funds?
Wesley: This funding is critical. It allows us to address some of those gaps that we were just talking about, and access to services and safety for survivors and their children. … One of these gaps is safe options for visitation and safe exchanges for children who are in the custody process in family court. … And also, just so that there can be accountability and ensure that there is no further abuse, even emotional abuse or any sort of verbal abuse that make or physical abuse that may go on during the exchange – when we know often that that’s one of the few times that an abusive party has access to the survivor once a court once a court case has started, because there’s often a restraining order or no contact order. But one place where they can have access to the survivors is during court-ordered child visitation exchanges. … So this grant will also have advocates who are specially trained in providing advocacy services – safety planning, including safety planning during the custody visitation court case, specifically for marginalized communities and those in the LGBTQ plus community, who often do face additional barriers when they’re trying to seek services from advocates or from the court or other systems.
Tasca: John, if someone suspects that they or someone they know may be experiencing domestic violence, what are the warning signs to look out for?
Wesley: Well, first I would say just knowing the resources is so critical. So knowing the 1-800 number to call to talk to a confidential advocate. So that number is 1-800-494-8100. … And again, there’s on our website, which is ricadb.org. There’s also a chat feature where you, if you’re not in a safe place to talk out loud about an abusive situation, you can chat with a confidential domestic violence advocate on a chat, on your phone or on a webpage. … I would say some of the warning signs and risk factors to look out for would be, you know, highly controlling behavior. Even that may start as kind of verbal put downs or verbal abuse, but could escalate to could escalate to more serious verbal abuse or put downs, could escalate then to a course of behaviors where the survivor is actually being isolated from their family and friends by the abusive party. … Unfortunately, during the pandemic, we saw even more of that, where folks who were already isolated because of the public health situation, you know, we’re further cut off from their support system because they were stuck at home with an abusive person. … So those controlling behaviors – isolation, you know, financial control. We see financial abuse in, you know, 99% of domestic violence cases, controlling the finances, not allowing the victim to get a job or have any access to their own funds or money, not letting them drive a car, even. … And we know there are certain factors that can indicate a higher risk for things to escalate to the most serious form of domestic abuse, which is, of course, domestic violence homicide. … So things like stalking patterns, you know, access to a firearm in the home is extremely dangerous and can make the likelihood of a deadly situation, you know, up to 500% more likely.
Tasca: John Wesley is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence. John, thanks so much for doing this.
Wesley: Thank you. Thank you very much, Joe. Thank you for having us. And we really appreciate the time today. Thanks for reaching out to the coalition.
