NewsWhore
11-15-2011, 04:30 PM
With over 113 women and 144 children, victims of domestic violence in residence, it is evident that the system needs more space and safe houses. The location of the only two Welcoming Homes for women victims of violence and their children is literally a well-kept secret, to the extent that even within the Ministry of Women, the institution that coordinates them, few people know where they are. This is done so that abusers do not know where their partners and children, victims of serious violence, are hiding.
"On Saturday one came to the Model Home with a two-month old baby, and on Friday we accepted one 13-year old with a 48-day old baby... her 17-year old partner beat her, just after giving birth, and her mother, and wanted to kill the baby boy. We took in the three of them and we kept them in the Model House for about a month," recalled the National Coordinator of Welcoming Houses or Shelters, Gloria Peralta.
When they talk about Model House, they are talking about a place where nor more than 40 people - mothers and children - victims of violence, can spend up to 30 days, which can be extended to as long as three months, for example, if the aggressor is not arrested. At the Emergency House, they receive protection and emergency treatment, from 12 to 24 hours, which can be extended to as long as a week. They can handle up to four women and their children or alone, for a total of 16 people, as described in Decree 1467-04 which approves the Regulations for the Application of Law 88-03 which creates the Welcoming Houses or Shelters.
"The latest people we have helped include a Haitian girl who was barely 24, and seven months pregnant, and who showed up with her face all swollen up from the beating that her partner had given her, but before that, he had stabbed her in the back twice. The last thing he did was, when she was seven months pregnant, was to beat her mercilessly. We had her for nearly a month," said Peralta. She said that they managed to send her to Haiti. When a woman files a domestic violence complaint to the Police or at the District Attorney's office, a risk or death assessment is taken in order to establish whether she should be sent to one of these houses, together with her children under the age of 14. If the woman qualifies, they are taken to an Emergency House by a driver, a guard, a psychologist and a social worker, where the woman and her children receive psychological, legal and medical care if they have been injured in any way.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
"On Saturday one came to the Model Home with a two-month old baby, and on Friday we accepted one 13-year old with a 48-day old baby... her 17-year old partner beat her, just after giving birth, and her mother, and wanted to kill the baby boy. We took in the three of them and we kept them in the Model House for about a month," recalled the National Coordinator of Welcoming Houses or Shelters, Gloria Peralta.
When they talk about Model House, they are talking about a place where nor more than 40 people - mothers and children - victims of violence, can spend up to 30 days, which can be extended to as long as three months, for example, if the aggressor is not arrested. At the Emergency House, they receive protection and emergency treatment, from 12 to 24 hours, which can be extended to as long as a week. They can handle up to four women and their children or alone, for a total of 16 people, as described in Decree 1467-04 which approves the Regulations for the Application of Law 88-03 which creates the Welcoming Houses or Shelters.
"The latest people we have helped include a Haitian girl who was barely 24, and seven months pregnant, and who showed up with her face all swollen up from the beating that her partner had given her, but before that, he had stabbed her in the back twice. The last thing he did was, when she was seven months pregnant, was to beat her mercilessly. We had her for nearly a month," said Peralta. She said that they managed to send her to Haiti. When a woman files a domestic violence complaint to the Police or at the District Attorney's office, a risk or death assessment is taken in order to establish whether she should be sent to one of these houses, together with her children under the age of 14. If the woman qualifies, they are taken to an Emergency House by a driver, a guard, a psychologist and a social worker, where the woman and her children receive psychological, legal and medical care if they have been injured in any way.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)