Irish_Eyes
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2008
- Messages
- 4,060
- Reaction score
- 1,599
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would come home to read this tonight. It is beyond unspeakable. My heart breaks for the Cox family, the social worker, and most of all those little boys and the wonderful unique potential within them that was forever lost. God be with this family and community tonight.
I don't want to preach, truly I don't, but in this moment when my heart is aching and angry, I feel compelled to reach out to all of my fellow WSers because I know how much you care about the victims and their families.
There is nothing we can do to change what happened to this family. But we all know that in the next days, weeks, months, more and more cases will be posted here that are variations on this same theme. In memory of Susan and these beautiful boys we CAN do something to help the many many other victims of family violence.
Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to reauthorize VAWA. It will now go to the full Senate for a vote. Whereas in the past, VAWA has enjoyed bipartisan support, it passed this time on a party line vote, with every Democratic Senator voting for and EVERY Republican Senator voting against. Budgetary concerns and pressure from the father's rights lobby have really changed the landscape.
VAWA is more than just a set of laws. Through the US Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women, millions of dollars of funding are dispersed through grants and programs that have made and continue to make a vital difference. One way VAWA makes a difference is funding Supervised Visitation Centers. I don't know why one wasn't used in this case. There may not be one close by in that area of Utah. What if there had been? If anything this only shows that VAWA needs MORE funding, not less.
Another way VAWA funds are working is through grants that provide specialized training in domestic violence to judges, magistrates, law guardians, and other court personnel. You would think this type of training would be required before taking a job working directly with abuse victims, but sadly, that's almost never the case. VAWA funding allows even the most cash strapped county budgets to tap into this vital resource so that judges and magistrates become more adept at recognizing violence and are knowledgeable about available tools for assessing and minimizing risk. My county just received one of these grants. Yours can too. I don't know what, if any, training on family violence and risk assessment the judge on this case received, and we'll never know if such a program could have made him think twice about the way the visitation arrangement for the Powell children was structured.
VAWA funds have also helped establish batterer intervention programs. More than just anger management counseling, batterer intervention programs are specifically designed for perpetrators of family violence, as opposed to say, just some guy who got in a bar fight. Success rates of these programs vary, but they are more successful than the alternative, which is doing nothing. In this case, without a living complainant, Powell probably would not have been referred to this program, but again, many more lives can be saved if these programs can continue to work.
Please let this unspeakable horror move us to stand up for those who have no voice. Please consider calling or e-mailing your senator, you can find their contact information here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Please remind them how much we need to pass VAWA, undiluted and fully funded.
Josh Powell is the absolute worst abuser I have ever seen. But he is only the tip of a very large iceberg.
For further reading:
The Leadership Council is a great resource to learn more about family violence and child custody.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges also has some great information:
http://www.ncjfcj.org/content/view/129/250/
If all of that doesn't convince you that we need to do more for victims of abuse (including children who witness violence), I don't know what will.
I'll get off my soapbox now and continue grieving this senseless, incalculable loss. I'll close by quoting Pastor Martin Niemoller, a German Pastor who stood up to Adolf Hitler's genocide:
"First, they came for the communists
And I did not speak out because I was not a communist,
Then they came for the trade unionists,
And I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist,
Then they came for the Jews,
And I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew,
Then they came for the Catholics,
And I did not speak out, because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me.
And there was no one left to speak for me."
Many thanks,
Irish
I don't want to preach, truly I don't, but in this moment when my heart is aching and angry, I feel compelled to reach out to all of my fellow WSers because I know how much you care about the victims and their families.
There is nothing we can do to change what happened to this family. But we all know that in the next days, weeks, months, more and more cases will be posted here that are variations on this same theme. In memory of Susan and these beautiful boys we CAN do something to help the many many other victims of family violence.
Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to reauthorize VAWA. It will now go to the full Senate for a vote. Whereas in the past, VAWA has enjoyed bipartisan support, it passed this time on a party line vote, with every Democratic Senator voting for and EVERY Republican Senator voting against. Budgetary concerns and pressure from the father's rights lobby have really changed the landscape.
VAWA is more than just a set of laws. Through the US Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women, millions of dollars of funding are dispersed through grants and programs that have made and continue to make a vital difference. One way VAWA makes a difference is funding Supervised Visitation Centers. I don't know why one wasn't used in this case. There may not be one close by in that area of Utah. What if there had been? If anything this only shows that VAWA needs MORE funding, not less.
Another way VAWA funds are working is through grants that provide specialized training in domestic violence to judges, magistrates, law guardians, and other court personnel. You would think this type of training would be required before taking a job working directly with abuse victims, but sadly, that's almost never the case. VAWA funding allows even the most cash strapped county budgets to tap into this vital resource so that judges and magistrates become more adept at recognizing violence and are knowledgeable about available tools for assessing and minimizing risk. My county just received one of these grants. Yours can too. I don't know what, if any, training on family violence and risk assessment the judge on this case received, and we'll never know if such a program could have made him think twice about the way the visitation arrangement for the Powell children was structured.
VAWA funds have also helped establish batterer intervention programs. More than just anger management counseling, batterer intervention programs are specifically designed for perpetrators of family violence, as opposed to say, just some guy who got in a bar fight. Success rates of these programs vary, but they are more successful than the alternative, which is doing nothing. In this case, without a living complainant, Powell probably would not have been referred to this program, but again, many more lives can be saved if these programs can continue to work.
Please let this unspeakable horror move us to stand up for those who have no voice. Please consider calling or e-mailing your senator, you can find their contact information here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Please remind them how much we need to pass VAWA, undiluted and fully funded.
Josh Powell is the absolute worst abuser I have ever seen. But he is only the tip of a very large iceberg.
For further reading:
The Leadership Council is a great resource to learn more about family violence and child custody.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/
The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges also has some great information:
http://www.ncjfcj.org/content/view/129/250/
If all of that doesn't convince you that we need to do more for victims of abuse (including children who witness violence), I don't know what will.
I'll get off my soapbox now and continue grieving this senseless, incalculable loss. I'll close by quoting Pastor Martin Niemoller, a German Pastor who stood up to Adolf Hitler's genocide:
"First, they came for the communists
And I did not speak out because I was not a communist,
Then they came for the trade unionists,
And I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist,
Then they came for the Jews,
And I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew,
Then they came for the Catholics,
And I did not speak out, because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me.
And there was no one left to speak for me."
Many thanks,
Irish