Forum examines ways to end violence

By Sean Barron

Ohio spends more than $3 billion annually on problems related to violence in the home, a speaker said.

BOARDMAN — A fifth-grade teacher’s estranged husband came to her school in Portsmouth in February, then stabbed her in front of her class.

In Hilliard, a woman’s estranged husband stood over her, after having shot her, and kicked her in the face.

These were two notorious crimes Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann cited as he spoke about preventing domestic and family violence at a conference Friday at the Holiday Inn, 7410 South Ave.

Roughly 150 elected officials, law enforcement personnel, service providers and others attended the seminar, titled “Family Violence Prevention: What Can Be Done in Ohio?” The two-hour forum also shared research findings from the recently published “White Paper on Improving Family Violence in Ohio” and discussed the scope and consequences of the problem as well as realistic policies and procedures for dealing with it.

“Twenty-five years ago, few people talked about domestic violence; now, we must continue to talk about it,” Dann said. “Domestic violence must be visible and in the public eye.”

Dann added that his office holds annual conferences for those working in the field and provides financial assistance to victims.

The conference’s keynote speaker was Kenneth Steinman, a researcher with The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health.

Steinman pointed to primary and secondary prevention, which include good communication and other skills directed toward people in general, and helping those at risk, respectively. Someone who’s elderly and dependent on a family member with a substance-abuse problem is an example of an at-risk person, he noted.

Steinman emphasized that crimes against family members are preventable, noting that family violence costs Ohio roughly $3.3 billion each year, the bulk of it spent on investigating cases. Nearly 2 million Ohioans have reported being victims of child endangerment, elder abuse or violence at the hands of a partner, Steinman noted, adding that those figures don’t include emotional abuse.

Key recommendations for preventing these forms of violence, he continued, include having multiple agencies work together; focusing on the community and perpetrators instead of only victims; increasing the quality of home-visit programs; creating more school environments that foster healthy relationships; and training banking professionals to help them better prevent financial exploitation among the elderly.

Also part of the session was a local panel group made up of Malinda Gavins, program manager for Sojourner House Domestic Violence Program; Margie Alexander, coordinator of the Family and Children First Council of Trumbull County; Dottie Kane, project coordinator with the Tri County Family Violence Prevention Coalition; Eileen Dray-Bardon, director of the Columbiana County Department of Jobs and Family Services; and detective Sgt. David Lomax of the Youngstown Police Department.

Dray-Bardon noted that making employers more aware of the problem can break the stigma associated with family violence and lead to earlier intervention as well as prevention of violence in the workplace.

Lomax outlined a national initiative designed to help men who believe in equality for women and are against domestic violence mobilize to help end the cycle of violence.