Prior to the early 1970s, the prevailing public perception was that what happened between spouses or adult partners in the home was a family matter for them to work out themselves. Our community has come a long way since then by labeling physical violence between adult family members a criminal action and having it addressed by the criminal justice system.

There is another type of domestic violence, however, that hasn’t been treated as seriously, and that is domestic violence against children.

Oftentimes parents who abuse their children acknowledge that there is a problem and are motivated to accept help so that the affected children can once again be safe in their home. However, way too often the abusive parent will not accept responsibility for their actions, or have some sort of challenge that impairs their ability to benefit from treatment. The stakes are high for children who continue to live in abusive homes. While he was Deputy Attorney General, Eric Holder noted that children who are victims of family violence have an increased risk of delinquency, adult criminality and violent behavior. He went on to say that if the criminal justice system doesn’t take victimization of children seriously then it is unrealistic to expect our community members — parents — to do so. Those parental figures that harm children need to know that their actions will have consequences.

The children in our community deserve to feel safe in their homes. If you are dealing with physical violence against children you care about please give our office a call at 507-437-6680 to talk about options.