Does My Client Have To Die?: How "The System" Puts Survivors of Domestic Violence In Harm's Way

• In Event: Empowerment: The Resilience of Women in Various Crisis Situations

Abstract

It's taken a very long time and a long and difficult struggle to get systems in place that will protect female domestic violence survivors. Unfortunately, these struggles have still not been successful. I use the term"survivors" quite deliberately. They are victims of domestic violence and when they survive this violence, they often become victims of the violence perpetrated on them by the systems that are supposed to protect them. They are truly survivors in the most honorable meaning of that word. I plan to give voice to my client’s experiences of surviving the physical and emotional violence perpetrated by her now ex-husband as well as her continuing struggle to survive the egregious emotional and mental violence perpetrated on her and her family by the various governmental agencies that are supposed to protect her. The purpose of this paper is to connect the dots between the systems' treatment of my client and her continual relapses into her PTSD symptoms and Battered Wives Syndrome which prevent her from fully healing and being able to resume her life. A variety of recommendations for changes in the system(s) to meet the needs of domestic violence survivors along with proposed policy considerations will be presented.

Author

• Zora L. Kolkey, Marriage and Family Therapist