NASSAU, Bahamas -- Each year hundreds of children are exposed to domestic violence in The Bahamas, Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour and Social Development the Hon Loretta Butler-Turner said.
Speaking at the Protecting Children from Domestic Violence workshop on Thursday, Mrs Butler-Turner said a recent analysis of reports to one of the major police stations in New Providence revealed that 660 cases of Domestic Violence were received that year.
“Statistics from the Royal Bahamas Police Force also disclosed that 29 per cent of the murders committed in all of The Bahamas in 1998 took place at a private place of residence,” she said.
“In 2000, Police statistics revealed that 45 per cent of homicides reported that year occurred as a result of domestic related incidents,” Mrs Butler-Turner added.
Domestic disputes often occur in the presence of children, she explained. “Until recently, it was believed that most children escaped unharmed from witnessing violence directed at a parent.”
However, she said research indicates that domestic violence impacts children in many complicated and long lasting ways and experts are becoming more aware of the “pervasiveness, intensity and destructiveness of intimate partner violence in its impact”.
The Minister of State said children of battered parents have been found to be at increased risk for a broad range of emotional and behavioural difficulties, including depression, substance abuse, developmental delays, educational attention problems, suicidal tendencies and involvement in violence.
“Some studies have pointed to a cycle of violence in which boys who grow up in violent households are 10 times or more likely to be violent that those who are not,” she said.
“Similarly, women in relationships with men who had grown up with violent fathers are four more likely to suffer abuse in an intimate relationship than are other women.”
These findings highlight the inter-generational nature of violent cycles, Mrs Butler-Turner explained.
“They show how male children, in particular, often imitate powerful role models with whom they identify, especially when certain circumstances – for example, feeling inadequate or out of control – arise at some later point in their lives and act out in violence.”
She also noted that family experiences involving violence are an important influence in increasing the risk of violence in subsequent relationships. “It is critical, therefore, that our family units provide the safe environment necessary to protect children.”
But Mrs Butler-Turner said the reality is that children are not always safe within the family, many children are physically, emotionally and sexually abused by family members.
Studies on the effects of child abuse reveal that abused children experience developmental problems, she said.
“This disruption, she said, “with normal developmental processes creates a rippling effect on later abilities.
“Physical and sexual abuse often involve many other forms of unhealthy, inappropriate and harmful experiences and untimely influence the child’s overall psychological growth and development.”
“In particular, abused children do not have the ability to interact appropriately with others, nor do they establish a satisfactory sexual relationship.”
Mrs Butler-Turner commended private and public agencies, including the Department of Social Services, the Children and Family Services Division and the National Parenting Program for efforts in ensuring that all children have the benefit of a physically safe family environment, which provides emotional support and security necessary for healthy growth and development.
