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REMARKS BY: DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PLACE: Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government DATE: March 6, 1995
I want to begin by telling you about Nora Cash.
This is a woman who endured years of brutal beatings. When her ex-partner lost control, he'd grab her hair and throw her against walls. He'd punch her in the face and blacken her eyes.
Once, he fractured her skull. Nora and her children suffered seven long years of constant terror. She was, in no uncertain terms, a battered woman.
But there's a good part to Nora's story. The beatings finally stopped, and that's because the last time her ex- boyfriend attacked her, it happened in Quincy, right down the expressway from here.
In a sense, Nora finally got lucky, because Quincy has one of the most progressive and comprehensive programs in America to stop domestic violence.
Yes, in a perfect world, justice would not be dependent on geography. But this is an imperfect world. In many parts of the country, women don't feel safe in their own homes. They are threatened, punched, hit, and kicked. And even when they get away, some are stalked like animals and attacked again.
I want to talk today about the challenges before us -- the challenge to make America's homes safer. The challenge to continue our forward momentum in treating domestic violence as a serious social issue. And the challenge to build on the good work in places like Quincy, so that all women get the help they deserve, and the services they need.
Right now we are at a crossroads. Never before has so much public attention been focused on the abuse of women and families. Never before have we begun to target significant resources to the problem. And never before have we had the momentum on a national scale to develop systemic and comprehensive solutions.
Last year, President Clinton fought hard for a comprehensive crime bill that included the historic $1.6 Billion Violence Against Women Act. Later this year, we plan to implement the first phase of the act -- a national hotline that will operate 24 hours a day -- every day of the year.
We had a scare two weeks ago -- when the House Appropriations Subcommittee made some reckless rescissions from the Crime Bill. Unbelievable as it may seem, the new Republican majority completely stripped the hotline of its funding.
Women's groups across the country were outraged, and so was I. But we prevailed. Just last Thursday, the hotline funds were restored. However, resources cut from the community schools program and the ounce of prevention program were not:
These programs will give young people opportunity and support -- they will prevent crime and violence, and they should be restored as well.
Now that the hotline money appears intact, this service will be a monumental step forward for victims of domestic violence. It will help save lives, and end misery. Once it goes on line, the non-profit organization chosen to run it will provide information about services in every community in America.
But the hotline also will be a great challenge. That's why it puts us at a crossroads.
Because when that switchboard begins lighting up, we will need to be ready with shelters, safe houses and services. We will need well-trained police officers, health professionals, social workers, prosecutors and judges, to help women emerge from violent relationships and go on with their lives.
That's the kind of system that was available to Nora Cash when she needed help, and I think it is instructive to look at how Quincy responded to Nora and learn from it.
First, the police arrived promptly. The officers investigated thoroughly. And they did something Nora had not experienced in other jurisdictions:
They didn't just tell her that she needed help -- they showed her where she could get it.
The officers also encouraged Nora to go to the courthouse to file for an order of protection -- assuring her -- and this is critical -- that she would be protected if she went before a judge.
Each time Nora had to appear to testify against her abuser, a social worker helped her fill out the paperwork and briefed her about the options. And each time she walked into the courthouse, the same police officer was at her side, just as he promised he would be the day he intervened on her behalf.
Nora's ex-partner went on to serve time, and he is now out of her life. The system did what it's supposed to do.
Nora Cash is no longer a battered woman. In fact, she's happily married, and she was planning to be here with us today, but she's about to give birth to a baby and the baby couldn't wait ...
Quincy's record on domestic violence is distinctive, because for a long time it has stood out against a backdrop of national failure.
Here's how Quincy got started: In 1987, District Court Judge Albert Kramer sat down with District Attorney William Delahunt, whose office had provided advocacy services to battered women for more than a decade. Their goal was to use the resources of the court to protect women -- and to punish those who hurt them.
The effort took more than the police, the prosecutors, and the judges. It required bringing in mental health officials, advocates, and the social service community, and together they designed a new approach to handling cases of domestic abuse:
Ultimately, women have been safer in Quincy. We know this for a fact: From the late 1980s until now -- deaths from homicides in domestic abuse relationships have almost completely vanished in Quincy.
I'm pleased that, in 1992, this great school of government, and the Ford Foundation gave Quincy a prestigious Innovations in State and Local Government Award.
You made the right choice! But it is a shame that across the country, very few cities and towns can protect people as well as Quincy does.
There are other successful efforts -- notably in San Diego; Duluth, Minnesota; Madison, Wisconsin; and Newport News, Virginia..
Some state assemblies have enacted legislation denying custody rights to abusers -- Florida and Delaware passed such legislation this past year.
And some major cities -- New York and Chicago among them -- are beginning to train officers to specifically track and follow-up cases of intimate violence.
But we still have a long way to go.
For years, crime surveys have demonstrated that women are more likely to be injured or raped by an intimate than by a stranger.
And yet, all too often, law enforcement officials treat domestic violence less seriously than acts of random violence.
All too often, jurisdictions require women to initiate formal complaints before the police make an arrest.
All too often, the police refer a victim to a social service agency, but the woman is too frightened to show up, and no one follows up.
And then, there are the instances of judicial insensitivity.
We all were shocked last year when Maryland Judge Robert E. Cahill sentenced Kenneth Peacock to just 18 months in prison for the shotgun killing of his wife, Sandra. As you may know, Peacock allegedly found his wife in bed with another man.
I'll read you part of what the judge said -- because it was an outrage: "I seriously wonder how many men ... would have the strength to walk away without inflicting some corporal punishment.
"I'm forced to impose a sentence -- only because I think I must do it to make the system honest."
Unbelievable!! A comment like that -- from a citizen or from a public official -- is simply unacceptable, and is outrageous.
It doesn't matter what the circumstances were. Killing your partner must be treated exactly the same as killing a stranger.
And until this happens, families will continue to suffer.
What we need is a seamless system, a system that is protective of endangered women -- a system that follows their progress from incident to safety -- no matter where they live or work. A system that leaves no gaps.
A seamless system is both capable of identifying families in trouble, and delivering the services they need.
A seamless system includes well-trained, well-educated police officers who understand the pervasive nature of domestic violence.
Officers who understand the reluctance of women to leave their homes, and their neighborhoods, and who understand how hard it can be for victims to report their abuse -- when they have lived for years and years paralyzed by fear and denial.
A seamless system includes health professionals trained to notify authorities when they suspect abuse -- as is done today in cases of suspected child abuse.
And once abuse is confirmed -- a seamless system has professionals accessible to treat the mental and physical consequences of abuse in women.
A seamless system includes courts that efficiently move cases of intimate violence to trial.
A seamless system involves the schools in educating children that family violence is wrong, and that they can get help by telling someone about problems at home.
A seamless system includes a series of shelters familiar to all the professionals in the community.
A seamless system includes services to hold batterers accountable; in some cases, this may involve counseling; in the rest, jail or prison.
A seamless system assures that all the different professionals are talking to one another -- coordinating their services -- and cutting through the bureaucracy.
A seamless system draws in the private sector to create more partnerships -- like the work undertaken last year on the "There's No Excuse for Domestic Violence" public awareness campaign.
This was developed by the Family Violence Prevention Fund of San Francisco and the Advertising Council, with support from Liz Claiborne, and Marshalls, among others.
That's the seamless system we envision. Too often, this is what we get now:
A busy signal at the social worker's office ...
Police officers who don't acknowledge domestic violence when they see it ...
Emergency room doctors who are too busy juggling crises to find out that the woman with a broken jaw was hit by her husband, and courts that treat domestic violence as if it were a private matter.
That's why we continue to hear stories like Kristin Lardner's.
Three years ago, she was killed by her ex-boyfriend in broad daylight on Commonwealth Avenue.
This wouldn't have happened if not for the cracks in our current system.
More than once, the police picked up her killer and put him back on the street within days.
More than once, court officials and mental health officials dropped the ball as well.
A tragic story, and a tragic reminder that when we have holes in our system ...
... People fall through, and they die.
As part of the seamless system that we envision, we have to have health professionals talking to their counterparts over at law enforcement. And we also have to move beyond the reactive approach to domestic violence -- and start focusing on prevention.
Investing up-front in prevention is a major commitment of the Clinton Administration.
Last year, with new funding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began an extensive review of community- based prevention programs. Grants went out to institutions like the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing -- which is evaluating emergency room responses to battered women...and to Rutgers University -- which is evaluating the effectiveness of legal interventions, including arrest, for reducing risk to abuse victims.
But this new grant money can only get us started on the prevention research we need.
We received more than 80 eligible grant applications -- and could fund only eight.
That's why the President fought hard to make sure the Violence Against Women Act which included an enormous amount of prevention money -- passed intact.
The activists and researchers who advised Congress on the act made a convincing argument that society must invest in research and community prevention:
For example, there has never been a definitive study on "the validity of the battered women's syndrome as a psychological condition."
By year's end -- thanks to the Violence Against Women Act the National Institute of Justice and the National Institutes of Health will have prepared such a report.
We've made other investments in research in the Crime Bill so that we could find answers to some truly vexing questions.
We need to know why witnessing violence increases the likelihood of becoming a victim or an abuser.
We need to know more about the link between violence against women and the abuse of children.
And we need to know how to train massive numbers of professionals to recognize intimate violence.
Later this week, my department will award a million- dollar grant to study how we can help primary care givers identify and treat victims of domestic violence.
Research and training will provide answers and solutions for tomorrow, but we also have to provide immediate answers for the women who have no options today.
That's why the act nearly doubles the current amount of money available for emergency shelter assistance and by the year 2000, triples that funding.
These resources are critical for women who have no place where they feel safe.
And with prevention funds being cut so indiscriminately from the Crime Bill, President Clinton is keeping his eye on every provision of the Violence Against Women Act to make sure they don't get slashed to fund a tax cut, or the construction of more prisons.
I think we can all agree that the Violence Against Women Act is truly historic.
But if there's one thing I've learned in two years on the job at HHS, it's that government cannot solve any great social problem alone and it shouldn't be counted on to try.
Any strategy to stop domestic violence must involve a broad network of citizens -- including every single one of us.
I applaud the extraordinary efforts going on around the country.
The American Medical Association is encouraging doctors to join the Coalition of Physicians Against Family Violence.
Doctors are also advised to send for a series of diagnostic and treatment guidelines for abuse against women, child abuse, and elder abuse.
Just last year, a task force of the American Bar Association released a stunning report that chastised lawyers, judges, and others in the legal community for providing inadequate legal services to battered women and children.
In response, the ABA has stepped up to the plate: under the crime bill, the legal community is working to educate and train a wide variety of law enforcement officials -- including attorneys, prosecutors, and judges.
We're also seeing that child welfare workers and battered women advocates who have almost always worked separately -- are beginning to join forces. In about half the homes where women are being abused, there is also evidence of child abuse -- and it's high time we take a closer look at how we can help all the victims of family violence feel safe.
The more we learn, the more we know that keeping women safe keeps children safe, too. Just this morning I visited a program here in Boston at Children's Hospital called AWAKE -- which serves battered women by reaching out to them when they bring their children in for health care.
These are all big steps forward -- but there's another even more important group that we have to mobilize. That's the citizens of our neighborhoods and communities -- the people who in their daily lives set the standard for what behavior is acceptable and what is not.
We need millions of Americans to turn off their TVs -- and turn their interest from one man's sensational murder trial to the trials of all families at risk -- families that live right down the block.
Let's make sure that domestic violence doesn't go back into the closet -- the way it was in the past. Let's mobilize police chiefs, doctors, attorneys, judges, and public officials in all our communities -- just as your neighbors in Quincy mobilized and organized to stop violence in the home.
Let's encourage parents to talk to their children about violence and teach them that hitting and punching are not the way to solve problems. Let's inspire more people to volunteer in shelters and hotlines and to become more sensitive and more honest in dealing with friends who may be victims.
Above all, let's do everything in our power to make sure that the next generation of children feels safe and comfortable under their own roofs. And that brings me to a story I'd like to conclude with today, a story I'll never forget.
It's about a little girl who entered a program for the children of battered women. The girls and boys in this group were encouraged to talk about -- and draw out -- their fears and their frustrations. The children also learned that when Mommy is in trouble -- when she is being hurt by Daddy -- it's possible to get help by dialing 9-1-1.
A few years later, a shy 8-year-old girl walked in on a fight. Her father -- if you can believe it, a child psychiatrist, was beating her mother on the head with a hammer.
Try to imagine that.
And try to imagine what you would do if you were only eight.
That little girl knew what to do. She remembered the lesson taught to her by a caring adult. She picked up the telephone, pressed 9-1-1 and saved her mother's life. The father went to prison. And the family's trying their best to build a new life.
If that little girl can have the courage to pick up the telephone, surely we can have the courage to prevent such stories from happening.
Thank you.