BY Valerie Gutierrez, HCWC LEGAL ADVOCATE
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The following article is part three of a five-week series focusing on raising awareness about domestic violence. One in three women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. Locally, the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center serves victims of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault and child abuse. Last year, HCWC served 2,055 victims of abuse primarily from Hays and Caldwell counties, and 816 of those were victims of domestic violence.
Domestic violence comes in many forms including physical assault, emotional/psychological abuse, intimidation, sexual abuse, and the systematic power of control perpetrated by one intimate partner to another. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, “1 in 15 children is exposed to intimate partner violence each year… [and] 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to this violence.” Locally, HCWC provided services and shelter to 227 children that were living in homes with domestic violence.
